Takashi Murakami is the originator of the “Superflat” Theory and the artist most associated with its tenets. He has maintained a multifaceted career as an artist, curator, collector, film director, and the founder of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

As a curator, Murakami organized a trilogy of exhibitions, beginning with SUPERFLAT ( which traveled from Parco Gallery, Shibuya to MOCA, Los Angeles and other museums) and continuing with Coloriage (Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain), and ending with Little Boy (NY Japan Society), which was awarded the prize for Best Thematic Show by AICA-USA (International Association of Art Critics United States).

In 2016, the first episode of the original anime series 6HP (Six Hearts Princess) was aired on TV. He is currently preparing to release a new live action feature film, Jellyfish Eyes 2.

Takashi Murakami

Japanese

Virgil Abloh died on November 28, 2021, after a private battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He was 41. The Off-White founder and Men’s Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton was most recently seen in Doha, Qatar, at the opening of his exhibition “Figures of Speech.”

“I am all about championing this new era of designers becoming the new rock stars,” wrote Virgil Abloh on the blog The Brilliance in 2007. Fast-forward a decade and Abloh is exactly that. The American designer has risen from a Chicago kid obsessed with fashion, art, design, and culture to the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear operation.