Takashi Murakami

Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
Private Collection, Switzerland
Christie's, London, 25 June 2004, Lot 282
Private Collection, New York
Sotheby's, London, 26 June 2009, Lot 271
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above sale)
Sotheby's, New York, 12 November 2014, Lot 569
Private Collection, Hong Kong (acquired from the above sale)

This work is in excellent condition overall. Under raking light, there is some very light wear at the extreme bottom right corner of the canvas. Framed in a Plexiglas vitrine. This work was not examined out of its frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“Super flatness is an original concept of the Japanese, who have been completely Westernised." Takashi Murakami

In fusing pre-modern Japanese tradition with the pervasive culture of manga and sub-culture of otaku, Murakami confronts Japan’s cultural identity following the aftermath of the Second World War. The literal and metaphoric ‘flattening’ of Japanese culture – heralded by the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and stymied by the dominance of American and Western surveillance and influence thereafter – is confronted by Murakami with an oeuvre idiosyncratically united by the conceptual umbrella philosophy of the ‘Superflat’. As the artist has emphatically laid down in the ‘Superflat Manifesto’