Takashi Murakami and Absolut Art are pleased to reveal an exclusive new print by the renowned Japanese artist, the second of three prints from Absolut Art benefitting The Kitchen. Proceeds from the signed edition of 100 prints, priced at $1,000 each, will benefit the beloved New York nonprofit space on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Since its inception in 1971, The Kitchen has supported artists in the production of new, boundary-pushing work across all artistic disciplines.
“I truly love prints and edition works, I am very passionately involved in artwork editions that can stimulate us in the context of something like a mind game. This edition was also produced with such enthusiasm.”
Takashi Murakami.
Murakami’s signed, limited edition print, Thank You for the Wonderful Destiny (2020), featuring his signature smiling flowers, will be available exclusively through Absolut Art starting July 15th.
Takashi Murakami is one of the most iconic and prolific contemporary artists working today. He seamlessly blends commercial imagery, anime, manga, and traditional Japanese styles and subjects, revealing themes that connect past and present, East and West, technology and fantasy. Murakami fills his paintings, sculptures, and films with thematically repeating imagery along with characters of his own creation.
The Murakami print marks Absolut Art’s second collaboration with The Kitchen after partnering together on a charitable print by Conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner last fall. One of New York City’s oldest nonprofit spaces, The Kitchen supports a wide-ranging community of artists in all stages of their careers; championing emerging and established artists alike. All profits from sold prints will benefit The Kitchen as it prepares for the programming season ahead and works toward a planned renovation of its building on 512 West 19th Street, ensuring that the organization will remain a platform for artists in the historic and beloved building it has called home since 1986.
Limited Edition Takashi Murakami Benefit Print
Launches July 15 on AbsolutArt.com
ABOUT TAKASHI MURAKAMI
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.
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.
ABOUT ABSOLUT ART
Absolut Art works with emerging and established artists around the world to develop curated, signed limited edition prints. Building on Absolut’s thirty-year involvement with contemporary art (from Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst, Keith Haring, and Louise Bourgeois), the goal of their global online gallery is to expand access to contemporary art, support local artist communities, and democratize the art buying process. Recently Absolut Art has collaborated with Kehinde Wiley, Shantell Martin, Miranda July, Lawrence Weiner, Hank Willis Thomas, Mona Chalabi, Brigitte Lacombe, Joy Yamusangie, Yashua Klos, The Wu-Tang Clan, NADA, UTA Artist Space, Metrograph Cinema, and more.
ABOUT THE KITCHEN
As one of New York City’s oldest nonprofit alternative art centers (founded as an artist collective in 1971), The Kitchen is dedicated to offering emerging and established artists opportunities to create and present new work within, and across, the disciplines of dance, music, theater, visual art, and literature. Recognizing its longstanding legacy for innovation, The Kitchen remains devoted to fostering a community of artists and audiences, offering artists the opportunity to make—and for audiences to engage with—work that pushes the boundaries of artistic disciplines and strengthens meaningful dialogues between the arts and larger culture.
