Layering

 Takashi Murakami

Background and His Flowers:

Takashi Murakami is one of the most important artists working today. Throughout his career he had promoted the pop art strategies that American critics have recently left unforeseen. He is most popular for his flowers, which have blown up around the world. From pillows, to Louis Vuitton bags, Takashi's flowers have blown up around the world. Although his flowers are very popular, many people don't fully understand why they're so popular. So what do his flowers represent? But in 2005 the artist revealed in a New York Times article that his smiling Flowers were a manifestation of the repressed emotions and collective trauma experienced by Japanese residents after the 1945 Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. 

Music and Art:

Takashi Murakami isn't only well known for his flowers, but also very well know due to his association with many different musical artists. From Kanye West to Billie Eilish, Takashi had produced multiple different art pieces, one being the album cover for "Kids See Ghosts" produced by Kanye. Besides Takashi's flowers, the use of a sort of skull is used throughout as well. This use of the skull can be seen in the Kanye album below. You can see a sort of ghostly face layered on top of Takashi's trees in the background. 

Besides the album cover for "Kids see ghosts", Takashi also worked on other pieces for Kanye, including the album cover for "Graduation". The album can be seen with a bear layered on top of a sort of school, again displaying Murakami's unique art of turning the school into a sort of face or skull. 

Murakami had planned on making a tv series with Kanye based on this art style, but it has yet to get any new news since the first trailers release. 

Besides the show, you can also see this form form of animation in Billie Eilish's music video "You Should See Me In A Crown", also imputing his flowers as well as his skull. 

Questions:

1. Layering is a technique to create a sort of depth in the piece of art. It makes it simpler for the artists to give a believable depth, subtle color changes, and surface texture. It can go from simply painting over a possible silhouette, to using different materials such as sugar to create a sculpture. 

2.A painter might add several layers of color to the canvas to give it depth, or a critic might say that a sculpture by an artist represents several layers of childhood memories. Although Takashi didn't live the himself, he reflect his flowers as a remembrance of the Nagasaki bombing to reflect the emotions of the people that experienced such. 

3.In my art, I may try portraying my character with possible damage to his armor or equipment, indicating the difficult experiences he has had along the way. I could also utilize it to give it additional depth and make it more visually appealing.

4. To be honest, it didn't do anything to inspire me. I will, of course, incorporate it into my art project, but it did not cause me to reevaluate what I should make or anything of the type.