“I express hopelessness” says ubernerd Takashi Murakami, though for many seeing his work it is not immediately apparent. After looking closely however, one begins to understand what is evident in Murakami’s superflatness, that strong emotive force is embedded on the surface.

Murakami provides some insight into the superflat style, a compression of pop culture, Japanese graphic art, fine art, animation and manga, at the 2:30 minute mark in this video, where he goes on to note cultural problems facing post-war Japan.

Here is an old New York Times piece on Murakami, and more recently the LA Weekly reported that MOCA’s Murakami billboard had surreptitiously disappeared from above the Melrose strip due to graffiti which Murakami found “so wonderful, he had to have it for his collection.” For fanboys and girls, the Murakami art fan blog has additional information.