Takashi Murakami is a prolific contemporary Japanese artist who works in both fine arts media, such as painting, as well as digital and commercial media. He blurs the boundaries between high and low art. He appropriates popular themes from mass media and pop culture, then turns them into thirty-foot sculptures, "Superflat" paintings, or marketable commercial goods such as figurines or phone caddies.

In 1996, Murakami founded the "Hiropon factory", a studio with assistants to produce his work. The Hiropon factory gradually grew into a fully professionalized art production studio and also an artist management organization. In 2001, Murakami registered his organization as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. Today it employs over 100 people, with operations in both Long Island City, New York and Japan. Kaikai Kiki produces the art fair GEISAI twice a year.

Portrait Photo by Yamashita Yohei.