Animation Flash

1. TAKASHI MURAKAMI OPENING STUDIO IN L.A.
Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will be opening an animation studio in
Los Angeles next summer, according to the LOS ANGELES TIMES.

Called Japan’s Andy Warhol, and based in Tokyo, Murakami is known for
his oversized anime style and already has a studio in New York. The new
studio will operate under Kaikai Kiki, his production and artist-
management company. Murakami works in painting and sculpture, film and
mass-produced goods all under one company.

“Animation and film have always been among my greatest influences, ever
since I first saw STAR WARS and Hayao Miyazaki’s films,” Murakami said
in a statement. “This studio represents a great step in the evolution of
Kaikai Kiki and gives me a closer proximity to the community of artists
with whom I hope to collaborate as I continue my explorations of
animated and live-action film.”

The studio will be in a building on North Highland Avenue, giving about
6,220 square feet on the first floor and 2,760 square feet on the second
to the expected 30 employees, said Daniel Rappaport of Management 360,
Kaikai Kiki’s talent management firm in Los Angeles.

First up will be an animated feature based on PLANTING THE SEEDS, the
shorts that premiered last year at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los
Angeles, celebrating Murakami’s mid-career retrospective. The shorts
feature the company’s cartoon character namesakes Kaikai and Kiki, who
travel the world in a spaceship and learn to grow watermelons with the
aid of fertilizer (poop, as they cheerfully call it).

The studio already completed work on the Kanye West music video “Good
Morning.”