Born in Tokyo in 1962.
The originator and proponent of Superflat theory, which reconstructs Japanese traditional paintings and the origin of Japanese contemporary art through visual premises of anime and manga.
Murakami has created numerous characters including Miss Ko2 and Mr. DOB that reflect the otaku culture and presents them in the forms of intentionally kitsch sculptures and acutely two-dimensional paintings antithetical to the Western perspective techniques. Murakami’s cultural theory based on subcultures not only deconstructs the highbrow/lowbrow hierarchy but critically illustrates the post-World War II Japanese psychology, establishing a discourse unique to Japan in the increasingly globalizing art scene. The artist continues to attract a wide-ranging audience beyond contemporary art through his multifaceted activities including his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Kanye West and Drake and focuses on street culture and contemporary ceramics.
The final installment of his Superflat trilogy of curated exhibitions, Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture (New York, 2005), was awarded The Best Thematic Museum Show in New York by AICA that year.
His first retrospective, ©MURAKAMI (2007 – 2009) toured four cities in North America and Europe, starting with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. He has since been holding major solo exhibitions around the world, including at the Palace of Versailles (2010), Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall (Doha, 2012), the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, 2015), the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2017), and Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong, 2019).
In recent years, Murakami has taken on NFTs, releasing his “Murakami.Flowers” and “CLONE X,” a collaborative project with RTFKT. He received a Special Achievement award at the Webby Awards in 2022. He has recently held his solo exhibition, An Arrow through History, at Gagosian in New York, with the two worlds of digital and the real as its theme.

Born October 27, 1982, in Osaka Prefecture.
In 2013, he launched the Upcycling brand READYMADE and released a series of bags.
The launch of the bags at a select shop Maxfield in Los Angeles gave him the opportunity to build his reputation in the U.S. first and later in Japan.
In the fall of 2020, he launched © SAINT Mxxxxxx with Cali Thornhill DeWitt, who is based in Los Angeles and is active as a multi-faceted visual artist. Immediately upon its debut, it became a popular brand that regularly sells out.
In the spring of 2021, READYMADE will release a chair made by recycling PET bottle caps, expanding their product range beyond apparel.

1995　Born in Kanagawa
Graduated from Tama Art University Department of Painting
For Emi Kuraya, the act of painting young girls is similar to the act of journaling, a way to document the things she feels and sees everyday. The many characters and images she envisions within one girl will assemble together and manifest in the work. The girls she depicts take on the role of connecting the viewers with the paintings.

Born in 1992
As a university student in Kyoto, ob organized and curated several local exhibitions by reaching out to other artists of her generation through the illustration communication service pixiv. She can be considered part of a new generation of artists who grew up in an environment where video games and social media were always present. Her recurring motif of wide-eyed young girls expresses a delicate, fantastical world.
In 2013, she collaborated with shu uemura, and in 2020, her artwork was featured on the set of the original Netflix drama FOLLOWERS, directed by Mika Ninagawa.
She has recently been featured in numerous art fairs internationally.

1970　Born in Kyoto
Shin Murata graduated from Kyoto Seika University’s Ceramics Department in 1993, completing his graduate studies the following year. He established an independent studio following his apprenticeship under ceramicist Yoshitaka Araki. After building his own kiln in Kita-ku, Kyoto, in 2003, he went on to hold over ten exhibitions a year all across Japan. Despite such a popularity, Murata stopped showing new works in 2016 in order to delve deeper into his craft. In pursuit of the ultimate harmony between ceramics and food, he founded a platform along with his wife Fusako and Takashi Murakami to exhibit and sell ceramics, calligraphy, and art. The store, called Tonari no Murata, opened in 2020 after a three-year preparation period. Kaikai Kiki continues to support its operations.

1974　Born in Tokyo
Chiho Aoshima made her debut with a series of chromogenic prints made through Adobe Illustrator, and in the time since has gone on to produce digital animation, sculpture, and eventually hand-painted works. The imagery in her paintings deals largely with Japanese demons and graveyard spirits, in essence creating a dialogue with the spiritual world in order to explore the personal landscape of her subconscious.
Perhaps for this reason, she has lived next door to a cemetery for over 10 years. From catastrophic scenes of human dismemberment to images of nature’s raging disasters, her violent clashes of color might seem to be the product of a brutal mind, but they are in fact the channeling of her primitive response to the terrors of this world.

T9G is a Tokyo-based sculpture artist who makes use of his expert training in toy figure modeling to create a variety of works. Using doll eyes, his dimensional sculptures are physical realizations of his peculiar worldview.
His activities include solo and group exhibitions and art toy fairs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Thailand, South Korea, and Shanghai. He has received high acclaim internationally for his numerous art toys featuring original characters.

Born in 1972. Resides in Tokyo.
Shoko Nakazawa has been deeply influenced by insects, living creatures, and monsters since her youth. After years working as a graphic designer and illustrator, she has more recently moved into painting, and in addition has been designing and modeling soft vinyl figures since 2014.
She has exhibited her cute monster-themed works primarily in Japan and throughout Asia, and has also participated in solo exhibitions and events in Europe and America. Her collaborations with apparel brands BEAMS and MILKBOY and her development of limited release merchandise have earned her much popularity.
Her most notable works include “Salamander Monster Byron”, “Seedlas”, and her collaboration with modeler T9G on Rangeron.