Takashi Murakami Launches His First-Ever NFT Art Piece

Trace William Cowen
·2 min read
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Image via Getty/Pascal Le Segretain

The experience of seeing how deeply his children enjoyed the communal experience of playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons proved pivotal in inspiring Takashi Murakami to enter the NFT space.

Earlier this week, Murakami released his first NFT after getting the opportunity to bring his unique creative vision together with that of Yoshihisa Hashimoto, a former Sonic Team programmer and director who’s also known for his work on Final Fantasy 14 and Agni’s Philosophy.

“The transformation of the reality of virtual world for me occurred during this pandemic when I saw the way my children interact with Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” Murakami said on Monday. “They were watching some fireworks display within the game while talking with their school friends, who they could no longer meet in person, through Zoom, admiring how beautiful it was.”

At that moment, Murakami added, he saw what he described as “the reality of the shifting values” by way of acknowledging how his children were able to find beauty within a virtual world. Now, Murakami is working on multiple projects with Hashimoto, including some within the NFT (i.e. non-fungible token) space.

As explained on the listing page, the series of works released as NFTs are signature Murakami flowers in 24 x 24 pixel art “evoking nostalgic for Famicom (NES).” There are 108 variations, with that number serving as a nod to the Buddhist idea of earthly desires.

For more info on the flowers collection from Murakami, head here.

Other recent developments of note in the growing NFT space include the selling of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, which went for nearly $3 million earlier this month. Also this month, Ja Rule’s Fyre Fest painting NFT sold for $122,000.

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