TAKASHI MURAKAMI AND OTAKU CULTURE: "THE HIGH" AND "THE LOW", "THE EASTERN" AND "THE WESTERN", "THE OLD" AND "THE NEW" IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE ART
In this article, the interrelations between “the high” and “the low”, “the Eastern” and “the Western”, “the old” and “the new” in contemporary Japanese art are studied through the works of Takashi Murakami. Otaku culture is viewed as a bridge between traditional Eastern art and the Western mass culture, one that lets an artist find its place in a globalised world which is nevertheless still clinging to conventional contrapositions.