Guy Hepner Gallery

Takashi Murakami Jellyfish Eyes For Sale

Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami - Jellyfish Eyes, 2002, Lithograph

Jellyfish Eyes, 2002

Lithograph

22 x 21 5/8 in 56 x 55 cm

Edition

Edition of 250

About this work

Takashi Murakami's Jellyfish Eyes series is a vibrant collection of prints that encapsulates the artist's distinctive visual style, characterized by its psychedelic flair and deep roots in Japanese popular culture. This series showcases prints featuring cartoon eyes rendered in bright, bold colors, emblematic of Murakami's approach that combines graphic motifs—such as smiling flowers and cartoon characters—with an emphasis on flat and glossy surfaces. The Jellyfish Eyes collection is a testament to Murakami’s fascination with popular culture, particularly the ‘otaku’ subculture associated with computers, anime, and manga, as well as ‘kawaii’ culture, the culture of cuteness. These influences are evident in the playful, engaging nature of the prints, which are designed to appeal both visually and emotionally to a wide audience, reflecting a blend of childlike wonder and sophisticated artistic technique. Despite his innovative approach to contemporary art, Murakami's background is surprisingly traditional. He studied ‘nihonga’, a traditional Japanese painting style, at the prestigious Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, where he not only obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts but also completed a Master of Fine Arts and a PhD in 1993. His deep academic and technical grounding in traditional Japanese art forms provides a stark contrast to his later works, which boldly diverge from this conventional path. Murakami’s pivotal shift towards contemporary art styles came after completing his PhD, driven by a lifelong interest in animation and modern cultural expressions. His move to pursue contemporary art was further catalyzed by a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council in 1994, which brought him to New York City to participate in the PS1 International Studio Program. During his time in New York, Murakami was profoundly influenced by Western contemporary artists like Anselm Kiefer and Jeff Koons. This exposure helped shape his unique artistic language, which adeptly fuses Eastern and Western techniques and aesthetics. The Jellyfish Eyes series not only highlights Murakami’s ability to blend diverse cultural elements but also underscores his skill in creating art that is accessible and profoundly engaging. By infusing traditional art techniques with contemporary, global influences, Murakami creates works that are both culturally significant and widely appealing, making profound statements about the nature of art and culture in the modern world.

Price on Application

Auction History

Takashi Murakami - Jellyfish Eyes

Jellyfish Eyes · Takashi Murakami · Christie's · 2012-11 · $17,741

Takashi Murakami - Skulls Rock; Killer Pink; Jellyfish Eyes - Max & Shimon in the Strange Forest; Making a U-Turn, The Los...

Skulls Rock; Killer Pink; Jellyfish Eyes - Max & Shimon in the Strange Forest; Making a U-Turn, The Lost Child Finds His Way Home; Reversed Double Helix Mega Power · Takashi Murakami · Christie's · 2007-10 · $10,625

Takashi Murakami - PARA-KITI DOB; DOB flower; Jellyfish Eyes-MAX & Shimon in the Strange Forest

PARA-KITI DOB; DOB flower; Jellyfish Eyes-MAX & Shimon in the Strange Forest · Takashi Murakami · Christie's · 2021-07 · $8,125

Takashi Murakami - Jellyfish Eyes-MAX & Shimon in the Strange Forest

Jellyfish Eyes-MAX & Shimon in the Strange Forest · Takashi Murakami · Christie's · 2006-10 · $5,856

Takashi Murakami - Jellyfish Eyes - White (A Set of 4)

Jellyfish Eyes - White (A Set of 4) · Takashi Murakami · Christie's · 2020-04 · $5,625

More from this series

More series by Takashi Murakami

About the Jellyfish Eyes Series

Takashi Murakami Jellyfish Eyes Prints For Sale

Explore the Jellyfish Eyes series by Takashi Murakami, one of contemporary art's most influential figures. This remarkable collection showcases Murakami's signature blend of Japanese aesthetics and pop sensibility, featuring vibrant compositions that balance whimsy with conceptual depth. The series demonstrates his masterful command of colour, form, and dimensional space, with variations across white and black grounds revealing subtle shifts in mood and perception.

Created during a pivotal period in Murakami's career, these works exemplify his exploration of consciousness, nature, and the intersection of high and low culture. Each piece—from Jellyfish Eyes White 5 to Simon In The Strange Forest—invites collectors into a dreamlike universe populated by his iconic motifs. The series has garnered substantial collector interest, reflecting strong market recognition of Murakami's artistic importance.

These works represent an exceptional opportunity for serious collectors seeking museum-quality pieces by a transformative contemporary artist. Available variations and editions offer flexibility for varied collecting objectives. Enquire for current availability and pricing.

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Jellyfish Eyes

About Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami Prints For Sale

Takashi Murakami prints for sale at Guy Hepner Gallery in New York span the full range of his edition output: Superflat flower prints, skull series, Mr. DOB works, Kaikai Kiki editions, and collaborative works that have made Murakami one of the most actively traded artists in the contemporary print market. For collectors seeking Takashi Murakami art for sale — whether an iconic flower screenprint, a limited-edition sculpture multiple, or a major canvas — Guy Hepner at 177 Tenth Avenue, New York offers expert guidance, full provenance documentation, and access to authenticated works across all his major series.

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962, Tokyo) is the defining figure of contemporary Japanese art on the international stage — an artist, theorist, entrepreneur, and studio director whose Superflat theory and the enormously productive practice it generated have permanently altered the conversation about the relationship between high art and popular culture, between Western postwar painting and East Asian visual tradition, and between the studio and the factory. Murakami received his BA, MA, and PhD from the Tokyo University of the Arts in Nihonga — traditional Japanese painting — a rigorous formation that gives his apparently anarchic pop sensibility its underlying structural discipline.

The Superflat manifesto, which Murakami developed and articulated in the early 2000s, proposed that the flattened pictorial space of traditional Japanese painting and the surface-oriented aesthetics of anime and manga were not merely parallel phenomena but expressions of the same deep cultural logic — a logic that Western art history had misread as naivety but which Murakami identified as a sophisticated and distinctive mode of representation.

Murakami's Visual Universe: Flowers, Skulls, and Mr. DOB

Through his practice, Murakami has built a visual universe populated by recurring characters and motifs:

  • Smiling Flowers — deceptively cheerful multi-eyed blossoms that bloom across canvases, prints, and merchandise of enormous scale and colour variety. The flowers are Murakami's most recognisable and actively traded motif in the edition market.
  • Mr. DOB — Murakami's alter ego and running commentary on consumerism; a hybrid figure drawing on anime, cartoon, and pop art traditions
  • Skulls — rendered in the manner of traditional Japanese vanitas imagery, these works bridge his engagement with the history of Japanese craft and his fascination with mortality and popular culture
  • Kaikai and Kiki — his studio mascots, which appear across prints, sculptures, and merchandise as embodiments of the Kaikai Kiki production ethos
  • Flower Ball — large-scale sphere compositions made of repeating flower motifs; among his most sought-after sculptural and print works

Takashi Murakami: Kaikai Kiki Studio and Production

Murakami's Kaikai Kiki studio and production company — employing dozens of assistants in an explicit homage to both the Japanese craft workshop and Warhol's Factory — produces paintings, sculptures, editions, merchandise, and cultural events with equal seriousness and commercial intent. This model, in which studio production, cultural criticism, and commercial output are deliberately merged, is central to understanding Murakami's practice and the edition market that surrounds it.

Murakami: Major Collaborations and Cultural Reach

Murakami's major collaborations have extended his work into fashion, music, and popular culture on a global scale. His partnership with Louis Vuitton produced some of the most successful fashion-art collaborations of the 2000s. His album artwork for Kanye West's Graduation brought his visual language to audiences that had no prior engagement with contemporary art. His collaborations with Supreme and other streetwear brands have ensured that his work circulates across youth culture as readily as it does in museum collections.

These collaborations have expanded the collector base for his fine art editions significantly: many collectors who first encountered Murakami through fashion or music have subsequently acquired prints and multiples, creating sustained demand across a wider demographic than most contemporary artists command.

Takashi Murakami: Market and Auction Results

Murakami's auction record stands at $15,200,000 for My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) at Sotheby's New York in 2008, and major paintings continue to command seven-figure results. His edition prints and multiples — flower series, skulls, Mr. DOB, Kaikai Kiki — are among the most actively traded in the contemporary edition market globally. Print prices range from $3,000–$5,000 for smaller open editions through $50,000–$200,000+ for rare signed limited editions and artist proofs in high demand colourways.

Murakami's work is held in permanent collections at MoMA, MOCA Los Angeles, the Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Tate Modern, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Centre Pompidou, the Rubell Museum, and the Mori Art Museum Tokyo.

What to Look For When Buying Takashi Murakami Prints

Edition size: Murakami produces both open-edition merchandise-style prints and tightly limited fine art editions. The latter — often numbered to 50 or fewer, with hand signature and certificate of authenticity from Kaikai Kiki — carry the strongest value and market liquidity.

Motif and colourway: Flower works in rare colourways, skull editions, and Mr. DOB prints consistently outperform peripheral motifs. Rainbow colourways and gold/metallic editions typically carry premium over standard colourways.

Authentication: All fine art editions should come with Kaikai Kiki certificates of authenticity and, for works sold through Perrotin or other authorised galleries, original gallery documentation.

Condition: Murakami's prints are typically produced on archival substrates, but condition remains important — works stored and framed correctly hold value most reliably.

Buy Takashi Murakami Art For Sale at Guy Hepner Gallery, New York

Guy Hepner offers a curated selection of Takashi Murakami prints for sale and edition multiples across all his major series from our gallery at 177 Tenth Avenue, New York. We bring expert knowledge of the Murakami edition market and offer free, confidential valuations for collectors looking to sell or appraise their holdings. Whether you are seeking an iconic flower print, a skull series multiple, or a rare signed limited edition, Guy Hepner provides the market expertise, authentication assurance, and collector access to support every acquisition.

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