Artists : Takashi Murakami

A lightning rod between different cultural valencies, Takashi Murakami has stated that the artist is someone who understands the borders between worlds and who makes an effort to know them. With his distinctive "Superflat" style and ethos, which employs highly refined classical Japanese painting techniques to depict a super-charged mix of Pop, animé and otaku content, he moves freely within an ever-expanding field of aesthetic issues and cultural inspirations. Parallel to utopian and dystopian themes, he recollects and revitalizes narratives of transcendence and enlightenment. Mining religious and secular subjects favoured by the so-called Japanese "eccentrics", Murakami situates himself within their legacy of bold and lively individualism in a manner that is entirely his own and of his time.