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.