New day; Kaikai and Kiki, Faces All-Over 2011

Takashi Murakami made this riot of flowers and faces, called 'New Day; Kaikai and Kiki, Faces All-Over,' and it’s an explosion of color and playful characters. The way he repeats these motifs, it’s like he's building up a world, a personal cosmos, bit by bit. Looking closely, the surfaces are so smooth and the lines so clean, you can tell it's not about the hand of the artist in the traditional sense, but more about design and precision. The pinks and yellows are so vibrant, they almost vibrate off the surface. There's one face in the lower right with a huge open mouth and teeth, it contrasts so sharply with the smiling flowers, a reminder that not everything is sweet. Murakami references Warhol, but there's also something deeply Japanese about it, perhaps echoing Hokusai's obsessive wave. Like all good art, it’s not telling us what to think, but inviting us to dive into its own unique universe.