Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

“…Mr. DOB is a far from one dimensional creation. Mr. DOB hints at Murakami’s innately critical stance toward Japanese, and indeed international, contemporary culture, as DOB derives from “dobozite,” or “dobojite,” Japanese slang for “why?” As such Mr. DOB represents a core questioning at the heart of all that Murakami does, unsatisfied as he is with the generally un-self-reflexive nature of Japanese art and society…The cute, almost generic image of a red, white and blue mouse of course alludes to American cartoon predecessors such as Mickey Mouse and/or Mighty Mouse, but just as readily conjures the kawaii culture of Japanese cartoon-based trinkets that have proliferated all over the world.” (M. Darling, Past + Present=Future, in T. Murakami, Summon Monsters? Open the Door? Heal? Or Die?, Tokyo, 2001, pp. 065 and 066.)