Who Gets Credit?

Takashi Murakami is world-famous. His art appears in museums and galleries around the globe. He also collaborates with celebrities and fashion brands, from Louis Vuitton to Crocs, to produce merchandise featuring his motifs. The artist’s prolific career wouldn’t be possible without a team of 300 assistants who help bring his vision to life.

Murakami’s assistants work at his Kaikai Kiki studio. When starting a new artwork, Murakami shares a sketch with his team. Then they turn it into a digital image, using the artist’s recurring characters and motifs from his previous works as a guide. They re-create the image in Murakami’s medium of choice, checking in with him at all stages. The artist makes changes and tweaks throughout the process. “I’m really hands-on and look at all of the details,” Murakami says.

Prominent artists have employed teams of artists to help for centuries. These big names include Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Dutch baroque painter Rembrandt van Rijn. While this structure provides income and educational opportunities for budding artists, they rarely get the same recognition as their famous mentors. And some people are critical of artists who use assistants—even in “countries with a history of collective production by artists such as Michelangelo and Rembrandt,” Murakami says.

The artist recognizes that his work wouldn’t exist on such a large scale if not for his team. Murakami invites assistants who work on a painting to sign their names on the back.