Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami may be famous among collectors for the psychedelic flowers and chaotic cartoons that populate his prints and paintings, but artists likely know him as the theorist behind the contemporary art movement he calls “Superflat.”
Partially inspired by the Pop art of Andy Warhol, in which celebrity culture and mundane mass-produced items became the focus of bright and colorful works that both celebrated and criticized consumerism, Murakami’s Superflat encompasses painting, sculpture, digital design and more to present a subversive look at consumerism but is also an effort to blend fine art and lowbrow culture.
A multifaceted and remarkably influential artist as well as a compulsive art collector, Murakami has collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton, while one of his most famous Superflat works is the teddy bear on the cover of the Graduation album by American rapper Kanye West.
In 1993 Murakami earned his Ph.D. from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he was trained in nihonga, a style of painting that originated in the late 19th century by artists who worked to preserve and promote the conventions and processes associated with traditional Japanese art. While practicing nihonga, Murakami began to realize that his beliefs didn’t align with the tradition, so his art subsequently took on a satirical feel that embodied a critique of the movement. Before long, his style took a drastic turn, embracing otaku, a rising postwar cultural phenomenon among Japan’s younger crowd who loved anime and manga. (Otaku is also integral to Superflat.)
This is when Murakami’s most well-known character, Mr. DOB, was born. This anime-inspired icon, which Americans might interpret as a cross between Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat given its pronounced ears and broad and menacing grin, was part of the artist’s endeavor to elevate the otaku subculture but also to target mass consumerism. While Murakami conceived of Mr. DOB years ahead of his 2000-era Superflat theory, there is much common ground between the two. Not unlike his other creations, Murakami’s Mr. DOB is equal parts erotic, disturbing and cartoonish — an incisive mockery of the mingling of commerce and fine art so prevalent in Japanese popular culture.
Find original Takashi Murakami prints, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
Takashi Murakami - Original signed drawing, Modern Art Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas
By Takashi Murakami
Located in New York, NY
Takashi Murakami - Original drawing, for the Modern Art Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas, 2018 Unique original signed drawing done in marker, and bound on title This original hand signed dra...
Permanent Marker
$8,500
Original Signed Drawing in book, Two Flowers with heart, inscribed in Japanese
By Takashi Murakami
Located in New York, NY
Makes a brilliant gift! Takashi Murakami Untitled signed original drawing of Two Flowers with heart, 2021 Original marker drawing done on title page and bound in hardback monograph w...
Mixed Media, Permanent Marker, Lithograph, Offset
$1,200
H 16.5 in W 13.75 in D 0.75 in
"I Think I Will" Modern Oval Drawing of a Nude Woman with Wings and Boots
By Charles Pebworth
Located in Houston, TX
Modern oval figurative drawing of a nude, tattooed woman with wings and cowboy boots by Houston, TX artist Charles Pebworth. Signed by the artist next to the figure's right hip. Hung...
Ink, Pen
$7,500
H 37 in W 30 in
Vibrant Alan Davie Scottish Colorful Surrealist British Pop Art Village Painting
By Alan Davie
Located in Surfside, FL
Alan Davie, Scotland (1920-2014). Gouache painting with watercolor 'Village Myth' Hand signed ('with love') lower left, 1982 Dimensions: with frame 37.5"H x 30.25"W; image, 28"H x 22.5"W. James Alan Davie (1920 – 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician. Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1925. During this formative period Davie discovered the poetry of Walt Whitman and T.S. Eliot, whose prose is echoed in letters home as well as his own verses. Alan Davie studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1937 to 1941. An early exhibition of his work came through the Society of Scottish Artists. After the Second World War, Davie played tenor saxophone in the Tommy Sampson Orchestra, which was based in Edinburgh and broadcast and toured in Europe. He also earned a living making jewellery during the postwar period. Davie began teaching basic design in the jewellery department at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts led by the Scottish artist William Johnstone, where colleagues included artists Nigel Henderson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and Patrick Heron. In 1961, Davie’s jewellery was featured in The International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery at London’s Goldsmith’s Hall, a milestone in the history of jewellery making in Britain where an impressive roster of international and British artists including Alexander Calder, Naum Gabo, Victor Pasmore and John McHale...
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
$235Sale Price|25% Off
H 11.42 in W 7.88 in
Spanish Expressionist Marker Drawing of Ballet Dancers and Theater Scene
By Ignacio Gil Sala
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Spanish Expressionist Marker Drawing of Ballet Dancers and Theater Scene Artist: Ignacio Gil Sala (1913–2003) Title: Untitled (Ballet and Theater Sketches) Date: circa 1985 Medium: ...
Permanent Marker
1960s American Pop Art hyperrealist drawing Lucky Strike
Located in Norwich, GB
A striking pop art drawing, dating from the 1960s, featuring lettering and a packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Pop art as art movement emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 196...
Graphite
$975
H 19 in W 21.75 in D 1 in
Heart, Original Drawing, Hand Signed, Dedicated on Verso, Pop Art, Framed
By Romero Britto
Located in Aventura, FL
Original drawing on paper. Hand signed lower front by Romero Britto. Remarqued - dedicated and hand signed on frame verso by Romero Britto. Sheet size: 9 x 12 inches. Frame size:...
Paper, Permanent Marker
$3,500
H 7.5 in W 5.5 in
"Saw Tooth" 1964, Pop-Art, Colorful, Mid-Century, Yellow and Purple
By Robert Indiana
Located in New York, NY
Robert Indiana Saw Tooth, 1964 Signed lower left, dated lower right, titled upper left Colored Marker on the reverse of an Al Brundelle poster fragment 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches Robert ...
Paper, Permanent Marker
Two Drawings
By Louis Valtat
Located in New York, NY
Group of two drawings. "Femme assise sur une Chaise," circa 1910. Brush and ink on wove paper, 8 1/2x8 inches. With the artist's initials ink stamp, lower right recto. "Femme avec ...
Ink, Pen
$800
H 11 in W 8.25 in
Contemporary Asian Cartoon Fantasy Art Mixed Media Drawing Tang Wei Hsu Anime
Located in Surfside, FL
Tang-Wei Hsu (1980 born in Changhua, Taiwan) obtained a BA in Architecture at the Shih Chien University and finished an MFA in Visual Arts at the Tainan National University of the Ar...
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Permanent Marker
$3,500
H 11 in W 8.5 in
Linda Stein, Knights Revisited 1031 - Contemporary Art Bright Colorful Drawing
By Linda Stein
Located in New York, NY
Linda Stein, Knights Revisited 1031 - Contemporary Art Bright Colorful Drawing Linda Stein started her Knights of Protection series after she was forced to evacuate her New York dow...
Paper, Permanent Marker
$1,600
H 20 in W 14 in
70s Modernist Swiss Dada Surrealist Painting Signed Andre Thomkins Brush Drawing
By André Thomkins
Located in Surfside, FL
This is titled "Karrierist" the German word for careerist and depicts a surreal face on a figure with a Salvador Dali esque quality about it. Published by Edition Hansjörg Mayer, Stuttgart They published concrete poetry and art books by Mark Boyle, Richard Hamilton, Dorothy Iannone, John Latham, Tom Phillips, Dieter Roth, André Thompkins and Emmett Williams, to name just a few. André Thomkins (1930 - 1985) was a Swiss painter, illustrator, and poet. He attended art-school, taught by Max von Moos, 1947 – 1949 and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, France, 1950. From 1952, he lived in Germany and taught at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between 1971 and 1973. Thomkins painted and drew ironic and fantastic pictures influenced by surrealism and dadaism. Together with Dieter Roth and Daniel Spoerri he prepared works of Eat Art. He also was a writer of palindromes. His friends and collaborators included Daniel Spoerri, Dieter Roth, George Brecht, Richard Hamilton and Karl Gerstner, Thomkins gained a reputation as an ‘artist’s artist’, and is considered one of the most important Swiss artists of the second half of the twentieth century.He died in 1985. His work is currently represented by Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Switzerland. Select group exhibitions: 2018 Kunsthalle Krems, 'Pablo Picasso. Arshile Gorky, Andy Warhol. Sculptures and Works on Paper. Hubert Looser Collection', Krems, Austria 2017 Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, 'Martin Barré, Karl Otto Götz, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, André Thomkins', Berlin, Germany 2013 Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, 'Schweizer Avantgarde Kunst nach 1940', Zurich, Switzerland 2009 The Modern Institute, 'Thomas Houseago, Dieter Roth, Andre Thomkins', Glasgow, England Museum of Modern Art, 'Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Collection', NYC 2004 Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, 'Arman, Baumeister, Götz, Graubner, Tàpies, Thomkins', Berlin, Germany 1994 Kunstmuseum Solothurn, 'Eine Schenkung. Grafik von Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tàpies, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Ben Nicholson, Giacometti, Tinguely, Thomkins', Solothurn, Switzerland 1992 Galerie Littmann, Tinguely zu Ehren. A Tribute to Jean Tinguely. Hommage à Tinguely, Basel, 1988 Museum Ludwig, 'Uebrigens sterben immer die anderen. Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit 1950', Cologne, Germany 1987 Aargauer Kunsthaus, 'Otto Grimm. Marc-Antoine Fehr. Christoph Gredinger', Aarau, Switzerland Cercle Municipal, 'Art contemporain suisse. Collection de la Banque du Gothard', Luxembourg, 1985 Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, 'Livres d'artistes', Paris, France Rathaus, 'Claude Sandoz – Hans Schärer...
Lithograph, Offset
Lamb Chops Feature (High-Low Foods)
By Patrick Fitzgerald 1
Located in Chicago, IL
This graphite drawing by Chicago-based artist Patrick Fitzgerald is an homage to the charm and artistry of mid-century advertisements and print media. Entitled ""Lamb Chops Feature (...
Paper, Graphite, Mixed Media
$3,500
H 11 in W 8.5 in
Linda Stein, Knights Revisited 1028 - Contemporary Art Bright Colorful Drawing
By Linda Stein
Located in New York, NY
Linda Stein, Knights Revisited 1028 - Contemporary Art Bright Colorful Drawing Linda Stein started her Knights of Protection series after she was forced to evacuate her New York dow...
Paper, Permanent Marker
FLOWERBALL DISC WITH ORIGINAL DRAWING
By Takashi Murakami
Located in Aventura, FL
A place mat designed by Takashi Murakami and given as a gift at the 2007 gala opening of the artist’s new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles Guests attendi...
Fiberglass