Takashi Murakami was born in Tokyo in 1963 and received his BFA, MFA and PhD from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

Famous for his colorful mushrooms and smiley-faced flowers, Takashi Murakami is known by many as the Warhol of Japan, merging traditional art with popular Japanese manga cartoons and anime films.

Takashi Murakami�s characters appear in his paintings, sculptures and on giant balloons and he is also internationally recognized for his collaboration with designer Marc Jacobs to create handbags and other products for Louis Vuitton. Staying true to Warhol�s Factory, Takashi Murakami operates the Kaikai Kiki Company, with factory studios both in Tokyo and in Queens, where artists carry out his imaginative creations.

Murakami�s work has been exhibited in museums across the world, including the Tokyo MOMA, the MFA in Boston and a recent solo retrospective exhibition at the Bard College Museum of Art.