What does the Murakami say? #2: Reading your Murakami Open Your Hands Wide (Versailles print) and I met a Panda family.

So you’ve opened up your new Murakami to find a pleasant surprise, Japanese characters! The text adds a nice nuance to a Murakami print; however, there will come the day when someone admiring your print suddenly asks you what the writing means! You could just make something up, but now Sugimoto68 brings an alternative–a translation …

No Flower, No Cry – The Murakami weeping flower prints

In 2005 as I happily examined my Murakami Skulls Rock print, I noticed an interesting detail. In contrast to the ubiquitous, blissfully happy Murakami flowers, there appeared a crying flower! Apparently a great novelty at the time, but over the years the weeping flower has appeared again and again in the works of Murakami. Various …

‘Takashi Murakami Prints’ vs ‘I Love Prints and So I Make Them’: What’s the difference?

What is red and pink and green and yellow and gold (leaf) and platinum and has ears and eyes and teeth all over? Why, the Murakami print collection, of course! Murakami has a big reputation for unleashing and moving multi-million dollar art pieces; however, he has always maintained a soft spot for prints. His fixation …

What does the Murakami say? #1: Reading your Murakami Poka Poka Warm and Sunny!

Murakami rose to fame on the coattails of Japan pop culture, but we also know that he developed his artistic roots through the study of Nihonga 日本画 or Japanese traditional aesthetic painting. His earliest prints such as the Hokusai inspired Manji Fuji 卍富士 (2001) (pictured above) incorporated stylized Japanese characters, but he did not revisit …

You’re buying the wrong Murakami!! The unofficial guide to Gunjo & Lapis Lazuli

A few collectors may have missed the September 2014 Hidari Zingaro notice about the Gunjo and Lapis Lazuli Dobs. (Find the notice here and find the original sale here.) While the consequences are not as severe as a going the wrong way in a John Hughes screwball comedy, a surprised collector may receive a print …