Murakami Murals

Takashi Murakami is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art. He coined the term superflat, which describes both the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of post-war Japanese culture and society.

The International Academy art students studied Murakami as part of our unit exploring Japanese Art. We looked at some of his designs fro Louis Vuitton, his videos for Kanye West, and his vast collection of deformed Manga characters. Each Academy class took a different Murakami print and divided it up into a large scale mural. This is a great collaborative project because students need to work together to make sure each piece lines up and all the colors match.