In the West, it's just a given that art exists in this high-class place. But in Japan, there's no high class. The minute you come out, you're low class. Takashi Murakami More Quotes by Takashi Murakami More Quotes From Takashi Murakami We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don't completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art. Takashi Murakami moments want art Rather than a big figure, I guess you could say I'm more of an influential minority symbol. Takashi Murakami influential minorities figures I've been immersed in manga since I was a kid. I grew up with this culture. So I started to think about how to compare manga to contemporary art. Takashi Murakami kids art thinking My aesthetic sense was formed at a young age by what surrounded me: the narrow residential spaces of Japan and the mental escapes from those spaces that took the forms of manga and anime. Takashi Murakami anime japan space The concept of minimalism is to relax. Like a Zen monk in training, it is something that brings equilibrium to the heart. I don't necessarily think it has any problems, but if I were to force myself to name one, I would say that since the minimalist feeling already includes its own universe, I think it might kill the drive that we would otherwise have to commit the physically impossible and attempt to travel into outer space. Takashi Murakami names heart thinking I would like to live to 120, because conceptually, people can survive to 120. Every 20 years, it changes. So maybe, in the next 20 years people can go to space. I don’t know what the next revolution will be. I want to watch. Takashi Murakami space people years I'm very sad to be compared with Warhol and The Factory, because I have no drugs, you know. We have no drug culture in Japan! Maybe it's because our attitude toward labor is totally different. Takashi Murakami japan drug attitude Contemporary art and manga - what is the same about them? Nothing, right? The manga industry has a lot of talented people, but contemporary art works on more of a solitary model. No one embarks on collaboration in contemporary art in order to make money. But in the manga world, everyone is invested in collaboration. The most important point is that the manga industry constantly encourages new creations and creators. Takashi Murakami order people art I'm always very interested in breeding. Raising cacti is breeding. My lotus plant collection is breeding. The insects are breeding. Takashi Murakami cactus lotuses plant The way I formed my studio and how I organize things actually came out of the model of the Japanese animation studio and the manga industry. The manga industry is gigantic in Japan. Takashi Murakami animation japan way New York City is still the art capital - every time I'm in New York, I'm thinking about competition. Takashi Murakami new-york art thinking Galleries in the West have probably been looking for exoticism. That's the reason my paintings initially sold well, I think. And then once they started selling, people said my works were very detailed. They may have represented something Japanese to them. Takashi Murakami west people thinking Like many other kids, I liked watching anime. Takashi Murakami anime kids Manga uses Japanese traditional structures in how to teach the student and to transmit a very direct message. You learn from the teacher by watching from behind his back. The whole teacher-master thing is part of Asian culture, I think. Takashi Murakami asian teacher thinking I'm always looking for ways to connect myself with American people and that American feeling. I'm trying to pick up on the feeling of places, like the Los Angeles feeling or the New York feeling... Los Angeles is much better for me that way. Takashi Murakami new-york feelings people When I was making my debut as an artist, I felt that it was very important that I try to combine the background of my own culture, my people, and the country into the contemporary art world. So that's how I came up with the term 'superflat.' Takashi Murakami culture people world art The theme my generation explored was the relationship between capitalism and art. Takashi Murakami generation theme relationship art As a young artist in New York, I thought about postwar Japan - the consumer culture and the loose, deboned feeling prevalent in the character and animation culture. Mixing all those up in order to portray Japanese culture and society was my work. Takashi Murakami society work character culture My own belief is that rather than getting involved in trying to change the reality of social-political things, creators can be involved in and express in different ways and be meaningful in different ways, so for me, it's important to leave messages to people of the future and to be engaged with the people now. Takashi Murakami me future change people In Japan, after having lost World War II, the hierarchy that used to exist in the society, from the rich to the poor, has been flattened, especially by the winners, by Americans. As a Japanese artist debuting in America, I really had to bring that kind of theme into the work. Takashi Murakami society work war world
