Kaikai Kiki and Me

Self-portrait with mascots

Kaikai Kiki and Me is a square offset print, about 68 centimeters a side, in which Murakami shows himself together with Kaikai and Kiki, the two characters who share their name with his company. A dealer description of the print says the artist and his characters break through a bright field of his signature flowers.

It was published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., in Tokyo, in an edition of 300, each impression signed and numbered in ink at lower right. The sheet itself is printed with the title and the line '(c)2008 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.' along the bottom edge, and a catalogue entry describes it as an offset print with cold stamp, a metallic foil, and spot varnishing.

Sources disagree on the year. Catalogue and gallery entries date it 2008, matching the copyright line, while a Murakami print archive lists a 680 by 680 millimeter Kaikai Kiki and Me, edition 300, under 2009 at a price of about 27,100 yen. The print may have been designed in 2008 and sold in 2009, but no source found says so.

Who are Kaikai and Kiki?

Murakami was born in Tokyo on February 1, 1962, trained in Nihonga, the traditional Japanese style of painting, and earned a Ph.D. in it in 1993. In 1996 he founded the Hiropon Factory, a production workshop on the model of the old Japanese atelier system, and in 2001 incorporated it as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., with offices in Tokyo and New York.

The company name, and the names of the two characters, come from the word 'kaikai kiki', which an early critic used to describe the paintings of the master painter Kano Eitoku. Wikipedia translates it as 'brave, strong and sensitive'. Sources differ on when the critic wrote: one says the late 17th century, another the late 16th century.

Kaikai Kiki the company makes and publishes Murakami's prints, manages the careers of younger artists, produces merchandise and ran the Geisai art fair. Putting the mascots and himself on one sheet makes the print a portrait of the artist and his business at once, in keeping with his Superflat idea that fine art and commerce sit on the same plane.

Murakami in 2008

2008 was a high point. His first retrospective, (c)MURAKAMI, was touring from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles to the Brooklyn Museum, Frankfurt and Bilbao, complete with a working luxury-brand boutique inside the show. In May 2008 his sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy sold for $15.2 million at auction in New York, his highest price. Time named him one of its 100 most influential people that year, the only visual artist on the list, and his company turned the basement beneath its Tokyo office into the Kaikai Kiki Gallery.

The wider world was in turmoil. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September as the financial crisis peaked, Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics in August, and in November Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.

Which Kaikai Kiki and Me?

Murakami reused the title for several later prints, so the name alone does not identify the work. Kaikai Kiki and Me: The Shocking Truth Revealed, For Better or Worse, In Good Times or Bad, The Weather is Fine, and Open Your Hands Wide, Embrace Happiness all date to 2010. One dealer also lists a 2010 print simply called Kaikai Kiki and Me that measures 64 by 49 centimeters.

The print on this page is the square one of about 68 by 68 centimeters with '(c)2008' and the plain title printed along the bottom edge. It shares its square format with Kaikai and Kiki: Lots of Fun and Me and Mr. DOB, both dated 2009, and auction lots often pair it with one of them.

One small auction catalogue described a 2008 Kaikai Kiki and Me as having a 50 by 50 centimeter sheet. That conflicts with every other description of the 2008 print, so check the measurements and the printed line on any example.

On the market

Single impressions of this exact print rarely appear with a published U.S. dollar price. In England an impression described as the 2008 Kaikai Kiki and Me sold for GBP 625 against an estimate of GBP 500 to 800.

It most often sells in pairs. In a Hong Kong dollar sale, a lot pairing impression 250/300 of Kaikai Kiki and Me with Me and Mr. DOB sold for HK$32,760; that is a price for two prints, not one. Another dealer database lists it as a set with Kaikai and Kiki: Lots of Fun.

This page's item record lists a price taken from a price-guide page for the 64 by 49 centimeter 2010 print, converted from pounds. Because it is for a different print and is a conversion, it is not used here.

The numbers

Medium

Offset print with cold stamp and spot varnishing

Dimensions

Sheet 67.9 x 68 cm

Edition size

300

Publisher

Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo

Printed line

'Kaikai Kiki and Me' (c)2008 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

Timeline

1. Feb 1, 1962

   Takashi Murakami is born in Tokyo.

2. 1993

   Murakami earns his Ph.D. in Nihonga.

3. 1996

   Murakami founds the Hiropon Factory.

4. 2001

   The Hiropon Factory is incorporated as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

5. 2007

   The retrospective (c)MURAKAMI opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and tours through 2009.

6. 2008

   Kaikai Kiki and Me is published in an edition of 300, printed (c)2008; Time names Murakami to its 100 most influential people.

7. May 2008

   My Lonesome Cowboy sells for $15.2 million, Murakami's auction record.

8. 2009

   A Murakami print archive lists the 680 mm Kaikai Kiki and Me under this year, at about 27,100 yen.

9. 2010

   Murakami issues a series of further Kaikai Kiki and Me prints with subtitles.

The world in 2008

• Feb 17, 2008

  Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.

• Aug 8, 2008

  The Summer Olympics open in Beijing.

• Sep 10, 2008

  The Large Hadron Collider circulates its first proton beam.

• Sep 15, 2008

  Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, the climax of the financial crisis.

• Nov 4, 2008

  Barack Obama is elected president of the United States.

• Nov 26, 2008

  Terrorist attacks in Mumbai begin; 166 people are killed over four days.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Kaikai Kiki and Me is number 94 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (90 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Kaikai and Kiki take their names from an old critic's praise for the painter Kano Eitoku.
• Murakami named his whole company after the same phrase, so the title can be read as 'my company and me'.
• At least five different Murakami prints carry 'Kaikai Kiki and Me' in the title.
• The print uses cold stamp, a metallic foil applied in the press, alongside four-color offset printing.
• In 2008 Murakami was the only visual artist on Time's list of the 100 most influential people.