Takashi Murakami: Panda with Panda Cubs

Takashi Murakami’s signed, limited-edition print Panda with Panda Cubs depicts a family of the titular animals clambering over a sphere of the artist’s ubiquitous smiling flowers set against a silver pattern of overlapping skulls. Murakami’s flower motif, which first appeared in his work in 1995, was inspired by the artist’s training in nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) and shares the discipline’s focus on natural forms, while the panda is among several characters invented or adapted by the artist that combine aspects of cartoons from Japan, Europe, and the United States. These figures act as icons and symbols, conveying complex ideas around fantasy, technology, and violence.