MURAKAMI

The work now on display at Versailles has been painstakingly produced by a team of assistants employed by Murakami’s studio and company, Kaikai Kiki, which he founded in 2001. But despite building a career on producing manga-inspired sculptures and comic-style prints in the factories of his company, the artist says he now plans to return to his first love: painting.“I am now nearly 50 years old, I have created my company, and created my world,” Murakami told us while preparing for his retrospective. “The works you see behind you are the production of a team of assistants. Now that the situation permits, it is the moment to do my own work by my own hand.” Although his work has been heavily influenced by manga, anime and videogames, Murakami studied painting for 11 years at the National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo. In 1996 he set up the Hiropon Factory, a nod to Andy Warhol, and precursor of Kaikai Kiki.

-The Art newspaper
Sept 17 2010