Legally Subversive: Roamcouch and the Art of Beautiful Contradiction

Art and Contradiction sum up the enigmatic Roamcouch, perhaps the best known Japanese graffiti artist (maybe second to this guy, raised in the US). Roamcouch’s 2014 premier solo show in the U.S., Beautiful Life, established his street cred and trademark style of beautiful contradiction evoked through a clash of realist scenes bounded by surreal toy-like backdrops of rainbows and stars, as in the works Rainbow Inc. and When you wish upon a star. Revolution illustrates rebellion in the hands of innocents who take aim at justifiable social ills––such as the POlice.

That KYNE Show: Why KYNE is Murakami’s next Kingmaker Project

Recently the graffiti artist KYNE has appeared on Murakami’s radar. Kaikai Kiki’s Tonari no Zingaro has released a series of silkscreen editions to promote him, and KYNE has a Perrotin appearance in Healing, a group show curated by Murakami. Their connection stems in part from a shared love of channeling Showa era pop culture in …

Everything you wanted to know about the Madsaki prints, but were afraid to ask

The Madsaki Flowers silkscreen prints premiered with great fanfare at the 2017 ComplexCon in Los Angeles. In the follow-up to its initial release, Madsaki Flowers re-appeared in separate sales by Murakami’s official sponsor Gallery Perrotin, and at Murakami’s newly unveiled Tonari no Zingaro (‘Next to Zingaro’, Murakami’s pop-up shop next to Oz Zingaro). Now this …

It’s a Madsaki, Madsaki, Madsaki, World: Or How the Apprentice Elevated the Master of Superflat

Maybe you know him from Barnstormers, or perhaps his Please Don’t Spit on the Painting Show at Widewalls; in any event, there’s not much more I can say about Madsaki that has not been written up in Juxtapoz; and similarly on Honeyee in Japanese here (except he admits to his passionate study of art in …

MADSAKI Says “Yo! snipe1 & UFO907, Get Your Asses Over Here! (2017)

Madsaki introduced snipe1 and UFO 907 to Japan with his curated show, MADSAKI Says “Yo! snipe1 & UFO907, Get Your Asses Over Here! in late 2017. Murakami’s statement, Graffiti Zombies in TOKYO, provides a good primer and insight into his collaborative work with Madsaki. Enjoy images from MADSAKI Says “Yo! snipe1 & UFO907, Get Your …