
Acupuncture
3 works

Tan Tan Bo (Gold), 2003
Lithograph
23 1/4 x 39 3/8 in 59 x 100 cm
Edition of 300
Takashi Murakami's Tan Tan Bo series is a striking exploration of character metamorphosis, featuring two prints that depict the evolution of one of his iconic characters into a monstrous form. The series showcases the character Tan Tan Bo, which Murakami describes as the 'reincarnation of Mr. DOB as a monster.' This transformation is rendered through two different artistic mediums: one as a silkscreen print and the other as an offset lithograph, each presenting a unique interpretation of the character's intense and vivid portrayal.Tan Tan Bo retains many of the recognizable features of Mr. DOB, Murakami’s earlier character known for his Mickey Mouse-style head, large round eyes, and wide grin. However, Tan Tan Bo diverges into a more grotesque figure, inspired by a manga character created by Mizuki Shigeru. Murakami, who has a profound affinity for anime and manga, draws from these Japanese cultural staples, which have significantly shaped his artistic narrative and visual style.In these prints, Tan Tan Bo's transformation is dramatized through his exaggerated facial expressions and the visceral, colorful phlegm spewing from his gaping black mouth. This vivid depiction is not just a display of artistic creativity but also a metaphorical expression of Murakami's personal anxieties. The monstrous depiction of Tan Tan Bo has been interpreted as a reflection of the artist’s concerns about the growth of nuclear power, capturing a broader commentary on the socio-political tensions in Japan.The Tan Tan Bo series, thus, serves as both a personal and political allegory, crafted through Murakami’s distinctive style that merges traditional Japanese art forms with contemporary graphic imagery. This duality in Murakami’s work—combining visually engaging art with deep societal messages—makes the Tan Tan Bo series a compelling representation of contemporary fears and cultural identity, framed within the vibrant yet haunting tableau of Murakami’s artistry.
Price on Application

Tan Tan Bo · Takashi Murakami · SBI Art Auction · 2024-10 · $18,164

Tan Tan Bo · Takashi Murakami · Los Angeles Modern · 2025-09 · $17,780

Tan Tan Bo · Takashi Murakami · SBI Art Auction · 2025-07 · $14,402

Tan Tan-Bo · Takashi Murakami · Heritage Auctions · 2021-07 · $8,125

Tan Tan Bo · Takashi Murakami · Phillips · 2025-09 · $6,629

Explore the Tan Tan Bo series by Takashi Murakami, one of contemporary art's most influential and collectible artists. This iconic series represents a pivotal moment in Murakami's career, merging high art with commercial culture through his signature Superflat aesthetic. Each work—including Tan Tan Bo (White) and Tan Tan Bo (Gold)—exemplifies the artist's mastery of color, composition, and conceptual depth, drawing inspiration from Japanese traditional art while embracing contemporary sensibilities.
The Tan Tan Bo series has garnered significant attention from serious collectors and institutions worldwide, with works consistently performing well at auction. Murakami's meticulous execution and innovative approach to mixed media create pieces that transcend trends, offering lasting investment potential. Whether you're an established collector or discovering Murakami's work, these pieces represent essential contemporary art acquisitions.
Enquire for availability or schedule a private viewing of works from the Tan Tan Bo series.

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