TAKASHI MURAKAMI DROPS 24 NEW UKIYO-E PAINTINGS AT PERROTIN LA

## The Art History Professor Era Takashi Murakami's 'Hark Back to Ukiyo-e: Tracing Superflat to Japonisme's Genesis' opens February 14 at Perrotin Los Angeles and runs through March 14, 2026. The show presents 24 new paintings that extend Murakami's long-running inquiry into how Edo-period visual culture reshaped the trajectory of modern art. This is not your typical flower and skull Murakami show. Fresh from a visit to Monet's garden in Giverny, Takashi Murakami turns his attention to the deep, reciprocal relationship between Japanese ukiyo-e and European Impressionism. In recent years, Murakami has returned repeatedly to the moment when Japanese woodblock prints entered Europe in the late 19th century, influencing artists like Monet to abandon strict perspectival depth in favour of subjective composition and flattened pictorial planes. Perrotin opened in Los Angeles in 2024, housed in the former Del Mar Theater at 5036 West Pico Boulevard, within the Mid-City neighborhood. Key elements of the historic theater including the marquee and lightboard signage, ticket booth, glass poster boxes, and the theater hall have been retained and adapted as unique sites for artists' interventions. ## The Kaikai Kiki Army Mobilizes A Perrotin Store will operate from February 6-28 at 5040 West Pico Boulevard, offering limited-edition prints and merchandise by Murakami and other gallery artists. The pop-up features work by the entire Kaikai Kiki stable: Mr., AYA TAKANO, Emi Kuraya, ob, Otani Workshop, and Chiho Aoshima. Founded by artist Takashi Murakami, Kaikai Kiki moved its headquarters in 2006 from a small prefab studio in Asaka, Saitama, to a sophisticated urban office building in Motoazabu, Tokyo. The basement floor was reopened as Kaikai Kiki Gallery in March 2008, established as a platform to introduce artists managed by Murakami himself. Chiho Aoshima is best known for her involvement in Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki art collective, influenced by the linear aesthetics of ukiyo-e artist Hokusai Katsushika and Japanese pop culture, using Adobe Illustrator to create drawings of surreal landscapes. Aya Takano creates elongated, cartoonish figures with large eyes in fantastical scenarios. ## The Academic Flex Murakami will also appear in conversation with MOCA Chief Curator Clara Kim on February 12 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, reflecting on his theories of Japanese art and the enduring legacy of Superflat. The conversation will address Murakami's long engagement with and theories on Japanese art, reflecting on the seminal exhibition Superflat, curated by Murakami, which was presented at MOCA in 2001. In 2024, Murakami staged 'Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami' at Gagosian's London gallery, with paintings remixing ancient Japanese art. The exhibition challenged the sanctity of national art by infusing them with pop cultural references, ranging from the artist's Mr. DOB mascot to his graphic, anime-inspired color palettes. This exhibition positions Murakami not just as a pop culture provocateur but as a serious art historian rewriting the narrative of cultural exchange. The Valentine's Day opening reception runs from 4-7pm, because nothing says romance like deconstructing centuries of artistic influence through kawaii aesthetics and million-dollar paintings.