Louis Vuitton Honors Takashi Murakami at Art Basel Hong Kong

Revisiting a pioneering artistic partnership, Louis Vuitton presents Murakami’s iconic works in a dedicated exhibition space at Asia’s most prestigious art fair.

Louis Vuitton returns to Art Basel Hong Kong with a dedicated booth celebrating its historic collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Staged at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the presentation reaffirms the French Maison’s longstanding with contemporary art and marks the continues evolution of a partnership that reshaped the intersection of fashion and fine art.

A Milestone Revisited

More than two decades after Takashi Murakami first applied Louis Vuitton’s monogram to his vibrant pop-influenced canvas, the house now revisits the collaboration that redefined luxury branding. Following the recent reedition of their joint collection, which debuted in March and featured the Cherry Blossom motif, Louis Vuitton brings Murakami’s work to the forefront of the global art calendar.

This latest tribute arrives not merely as retrospective homage, but as a clear affirmation of Murakami’s enduring influence on the Maison’s cultural identity. What once drew skepticism within traditional art circles has since become foundational to the brand’s art-infused ethos – a legacy initiated under the creative leadership of Marc Jacobs in the early 2000s.

At the Booth: Sculpture, Video, Iconography

The Louis Vuitton booth itself has been conceived as a gleaming, metallic trunk – a nod to the brand’s heritage – and welcomes visitors with an immersive display of Murakami’s large-scale works. Among them: “Zoocho-kun” and “Tamon-kun”, towering sculptural figures, and Superflat Jellyfish Eyes 1, a screen installation that reflects Murakami’s signature visual lexicon. All these pieces are part of the permanent collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Complementing these works are sculptures, textiles, and digital media that explore the themes of Murakami’s Superflat Manifesto, first published in 2000. His conceptual framework intentionally collapses distinctions between art and commerce, the elite and the everyday, the East and the West – a fusion that continues to influence creative industries worldwide.

Objects of Cultural Convergence

Also on view are historic pieces from the original Louis Vuitton x Murakami collaboration, including the rare Monogram Multicolore Marilyn Trunk from 2003, containing 33 bags in the collection’s signature palette. Another highlight: a Keepall and canvas in the artist’s Monogramouflage pattern, developed in 2008, which merged camouflage aesthetics with Vuitton’s storied emblem.

Though controversial at the time, Murakami’s artistic appropriation of the monogram was visionary. “Part of the thing I was doing was to paint the monogram itself onto canvas and then present it as painting”, he explained in a recent interview. While some questioned the integrity of art intertwined with fashion, the collaboration ultimately reframed perceptions of what constitutes artistic legitimacy in a commercial world.

A Dialogue That Continues

For Murakami, the Louis Vuitton partnership remains integral to his artistic practice. In his 2023 retrospective at Kyoto Kyocera Museum of Art, he requested a Multicolore trunk to accompany his Flower Parent and Child sculpture – a strategic gesture at engaging Japanese audiences, for whom fashion often resonates more deeply than contemporary art.

This renewed visibility has been championed by Louis Vuitton’s chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari, whose support catalyzed the reedition. The most recent chapter of the collaboration - led by campaign ambassador Zendaya – arrived in stores globally on March 21, further reinforcing the relevance of Murakami’s visual universe withing the brand’s evolving narrative.

By returning to Art Basel Hong Kong with this ambitious installation, Louis Vuitton not only affirms its role as a patron of contemporary culture but also reasserts the significance of Murakami’s contributions to the evolving conversation between art, fashion, and global identity.

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