superflat japan

murakami and super-flat japan

Takashi Murakami - Google Search

The danger is that Murakami's unapologetic hucksterism may obscure just how good his art is

Takashi Murakami, born in 1962, is often billed as the next Andy Warhol. Like the American pop art icon, he fuses high and low, pulling imagery from consumer culture
. . . . . continues Wired 11.11: The Two Faces of Takashi Murakami
introducing otaku culture to international audiences

Superflat Japanese Postmodernity
"Otaku" is a Japanese word indicating a new cultural group which emerged in 1970s, consisted of enthusiastic consumers fascinated by various post-war Japanese subcultures, for example, manga, anime, Sci-Fi, tokusatsu films, models, computer hacking and so on.

Otaku is now thought to be one of the most important factors in any analysis of Japanese contemporary culture, not only because many artworks and industrial products that originated from otaku culture are internationally accepted, but because their mentalities are beginning to have a great influence on Japanese society.

Aum Shinrikyo, the terrorist cult that scattered poison gas in Tokyo metros in 1995, is known for their eschatological dogmas deeply influenced by 1970s' and 1980s' animes and gathering a broad sympathy from otaku generation even after their terrorism

just seen on BBC TV 4 from 2003
Takashi Murakami bbc - Google Search