takashi murakami: new day charity t shirts for japan

murakami’s kaikai, kiki, and flower characters are used in his ‘new day’ t-shirt

as part of his ‘new day’ project with kaikai kiki gallery, takashi murakami has designed a t-shirt, 100% of whose proceeds are donated to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck march 11th, 2011. the shirts feature murakami’s kaikai and kiki characters alongside three flowers and the ‘new day’ message. they are produced in S, M, L, and XL, in white, pink, blue, and green.

scheduled to begin selling in taiwan beginning april 1st, the t-shirts will also be available for purchase during kaikai kiki’s exhibition at the zona maco (‘zona méxico arte contemporaneo’) international art fair in mexico city from april 6th through 10th, 2011.

left: takashi murakami with japanese performer/model jolin tsai; right: murakami’s ‘new day’ t-shirts images courtesy jolin tsai

the fair marks the first time that kaikai kiki exhibits at a major international art festival. chinatsu ban and rei sato join eight emerging artists from kyoto– maelie makuno, gemi, keisin, mi, nishinoda, ob, rei tanaka, and yoshiyasu tamura– selected by murakami as the first artists to take part in kaikai kiki’s incubation program, which offers them workspace at murakami’s production studio.

murakami’s self-portrait is the original picture that began the ‘new day’ online collection project

murakami’s ‘new day‘ initiative, of which the t-shirts are a part, encourages artists to post illustrations and artworks responding to the earthquake via twitter and other image hosting websites.