Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami is a contemporary artist from Japan. His works include both fine art media such as painting and sculpture, and commercial art, including fashion, merchandise, and animation. Murakami is renowned for his ability to blur the boundary between high art and low arts. His art is characterized by a blend of the traditional Japanese artistic style, and the cultural and social elements of postwar Japan.

In 2007, Murakami created the cover of rap artist Kanye West‘s album Graduation and produced an animated video for the song “Good Morning” from the same album. Additionally, he made the artwork for West and Kid Cudi’s 2018 collaboration album Kids See Ghosts.

Murakami went on to use imagery from Graduation and “Good Morning” in his paintings and sculptures, creating a fusion of art and commercial branding and raising questions regarding the existence of a separation between the two.