Takashi Murakami, Klein's Pot, 2018 Exhibition Poster

2018 exhibition poster from Vancouver Art gallery printed on the occasion of the exhibit, "The Octopus Eats It's Own Legs". Features a work by Takashi Murakami, "Klein's Pot".

18 x 24 in.
45.72 x 60.96 cm.

Murakami earned a BA, MFA, and PhD from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied nihonga (traditional Japanese painting). In 1996 he established the Hiropon Factory, a studio/workshop that in subsequent years grew into an art production and artist management company, now known as Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd.

Since the early 1990s Murakami has invented characters that combine aspects of popular cartoons from Japan, Europe, and the US—from his first Mr. DOB, who sometimes serves as a stand-in for the artist himself, to various anime characters and smiling flowers, bears, and lions. These figures act as icons and symbols—hosts for more complex themes of violence, technology, and fantasy.