T akashi Murakami is one of the most internationally well-known artists in contemporary Japan, churning out a high volume of work in his trademark Superat style . Although Superat is unique to Murakami and his blend of contemporary Japanese culture , there is a curious trend of art critics se eing Murakami in t erms of another artist, Andy W arhol. This correlation might simply be that Western art critics are approaching an unfamiliar culture and artistic style (Japan and Superat) through the lens of what they already are familiar with (America and Pop Art). This trend is noteworthy, however, for the sheer frequency that Warhol comes up while talking about Murakami, namely, practically every single interview or review. Warhol and Murakami share a similar visual style insofar as they both tend to use bright colors and gural imagery . Like the compositions of both artists, howev er , this analysis is at: it ignores the cultural genesis behind each artist’s style, or the artists’ motives in working the way that they do . Surface analysis aside, W arhol and Murakami are creat ing very different types of artwork, with appropriate ly different inte ntions. This paper aims to discover the cultural impetuses that gave birth to Murakami and Warhol’ s unique styles, and the different way that their artworks interact with contemporary society . Further examination into the de velopment of each artist’s style makes it clear both Warhol and Murakami fully embody their own time periods, Warhol as Modernism and Murakami as P ostmodernism. At the end of this paper , it should be clear that Murakami should not be billed as simply “the next Andy Warhol.” As it is with any id ea, the best way to understand the evolution of an artistic style is to start at the beginning. After studying commercial ar t at the School of Fine Arts in Pittsburg, Warhol began his artistic career working in the medium of ink. Like many artists of his time, he moonlighted as a commercial artist, illustrating magazine articles or advertiseme nts. His commerical work r eached such great success, however, that he found it hard to be taken seriously as a high artist. When trying to submit his artwork to be shown at a regular museum, Warhol received the criticism that his work looked too commercial to be considered ne art. In an unexpected mov e for the time, Warhol responded by redoubling hi s commitment to everyda y commercial design. As the years progresse d and his style became more and more distinct, Warhol arrived at the artistic style and subject matter that we now associate him with: the endless ro ws of Campbell soup cans or Coca Cola bottles. Murakami started his career with a similarly commercial aspiration. Although he had originally dreamed of being an animator , Murakami felt that his technique was too weak to merit anything more than backg round painting. T o improve his techniqu e, he enrolled in the T okyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and studied nih on-ga, or traditional Japanese painting style. He studied at this unive rsity from 1986 to 1993, earning a bachelor’s, master’s , and doctoral degree. In 1989, however , he took a trip to Brooklyn and saw an exhibit of Jeff Koons er otic sculptures, whic h contrasted sharply with the traditional subject matter that he had been taught to paint in school . This exhibit caused Murakami to start questioning his assumptions ab out contemporary art, such as his revelation that artists could have fun. Subsequent trips back to Br ooklyn reafrmed Murakami’s fascination with Western artist attitudes. After completing his schooling, Murakami switched mediums to acrylic, and started to work his way into T okyo’s Ot aku scene. The Otaku are a sub-culture in Tokyo that generally have a passion for topics such as manga, anime, sci-, computer hacking, or models. Although they are one of the most well-known sub- cultures outside of Japan, within the country they ar e still regarded with distrust. In the eyes of mai nstream society , otaku have an unhealthy obsession with fringe interests, and likely pose a danger to themselves or others. Murakami, on the other hand, saw the culture of the otaku as rich source of visual inspiration and that they provided an interesting perspective on the current state of Japanese society. In the same manner that W arhol treated everyday product design, Murakami took otaku visual language and proceeded to build a car eer out of it. In his mature style, Andy Warhol started working out of a workhouse that quickly became kno wn as The Facto ry . The space became a hangout space for the cultural underground, but Warhol also put these people to work in helping him produce his artw ork. Warhol would create the design for a piece, and then instruct other people in how to ex ecute the silkscreen pr ocess. In such a manner , The Facto ry was able to operate almost Takashi Murakami and Andy Warhol: Flat but Not Without Meaning © 2008 Rachel Witte
