Giant Robot Story Time: Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami once described himself in wrestling terms as the “Heel” in comparison to Yoshitomo Nara, the Hero. I thought his self-deprecating analogy was perfect.

Perhaps “the heel” came from the vastness of Murakami’s own factory-like scale for the creation of his art. He has studios as big as airplane hangars in Japan and a scaled-down one in America, employing a cadre of talent who paint, sculpt, animate, and sit behind computers. Compared to a lone artist creating their work, Murakami’s Warholian team brings people to the notion that “he’s not making his own art.” Some will go on to say he’s not an artist but an administrator. I think he’s both—and that’s his superpower.

I’ve met Murakami on many occasions, and one of the first things he said to me when we met in 2000 was that he bought Giant Robot #1 while on a trip to NY in the mid-90s. Murakami knew about GR before I knew about him? He made it a point to meet me in LA before his Superflat exhibition.

I ended up interviewing him more than once for Giant Robot, and I think we’re the first to put him on a cover in America. We’ve met up many times since, and he’s personable and surprisingly humble, with sharp thoughts on culture and how he fits. Since our first meeting, his art has only ascended to numerous peaks, as if he were in a bar graph without drastic lows, making him one of the biggest artists in the world. Yet he’ll still respond to a DM whenever I send one. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any angles and am just saying hello. Or maybe he remembers Giant Robot the zine and the undying support we’ve had for his vision over the last 25 years.

Murakami is also in the Giant Robot 30 Years book.