Enso Memento Mori Red on Blue - Takashi Murakami

This framed 2016 limited edition print by Takashi Murakami titled 'Enso: Memento Mori Red on Blue' is a four-colour offset prting on woven paper that has been signed and number in silver by the artist. Edition of 300.

The subject of these prints is one of the most famous motifs in Zen painting, the Ensō (literally circle) that symbolizes emptiness, unity and infinity in Zen Buddhism. The Ensō paintings represent epiphany for the artist, resulting from quiet and ongoing spiritual practice. The Ensō is the prerequisite to every act of creation, a moment when the mind is free to let the body create. Traditionally traced with a brush in one fluid and highly mastered stroke, the circle does not allow for a change of heart. Murakami executes the Ensō in his unique style, using spray paint over his signature accumulations of flowers and skulls. The Ensō is a true homage to Japanese tradition, a return to a more unfettered minimalist practice – the result of a complex artistic and spiritual path.

Framed size: 960 x 960mm

One of the most acclaimed artists to emerge from postwar Asia, Takashi Murakami—“the Warhol of Japan"—is known for his contemporary Pop synthesis of fine art and popular culture, particularly his use of a boldly graphic and colorful anime and manga cartoon style. Murakami became famous in the 1990s for his “Superflat" theory and for organizing the paradigmatic exhibition of that title, which linked the origins of contemporary Japanese visual culture to historical Japanese art. His output includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, animations, and collaborations with numerous brands and celebrities including Kanye West, Louis Vuitton, Pharrell Williams and Google. In September 2010 Murakami became the third contemporary artist, and first Japanese, to exhibit at the Palace of Versailles in France. Auction record: $15m USD, Sotheby's, 2008.