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# Murakami Floats in Thanksgiving Parade, Dances in Flower Suit
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/murakami-flower-suit/
- Published: 2010-11-26T15:00:15.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:49:07.000Z
- Description: Think contemporary art's going mainstream? It doesn't end with Louis Vuitton bags and album covers. Joining the cartoon figures and name-brand mascots at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade were superstar contemporary artist Takashi Murakami's signature surreal characters, KaiKai and KiKi, two anime crit
- Author: Kyle Chayka
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, Jeff Koons, Superflat, Takashi Murakami, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/designboom_murakami1.jpg)

Murakami's float (image from designboom.com)

Think contemporary art’s going mainstream? It doesn’t end with Louis Vuitton bags and album covers. Joining the cartoon figures and name-brand mascots at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade were superstar contemporary artist Takashi Murakami’s signature surreal characters, KaiKai and KiKi, two anime critters that share monikers with Murakami’s [company](http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/?ref=hyperallergic.com).

The jump to holiday parade floats is a logical one for the Japanese artist who spearheads [Superflat](https://hyperallergic.com/wtf-is-superflat/), a movement whose chief tenet is to further flatten high and low culture until no seam is visible: keychains are the same to Murakami as million-dollar paintings, the floats are just icing on an international aesthetic cake. It’s just fun to see Murakami’s mascots in the same context as Kung-Fu Panda and the Pillsbury Doughboy, but Murakami’s float is selling nothing but his own artistic ideas.

Murakami joins a growing crew of artists featured in the Parade, including Jeff Koons in 2009\. Below, check out a selection of photos from Murakami’s participation in the parade, which also featured the artist himself dancing on the float wearing a flower suit, another trademark.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/designboom_murakami2.jpg)

Murakami's float during the parade (image from designboom.com) 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/gothamist_murakami3.jpg)

Murakami's KaiKai and KiKi floats (image from gothamist.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/gothamist_murakami4.jpg)

Murakami in his flower suit (image from gothamist.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/nyt_murakami2.jpg)

Murakami again ebullient in his flower suit (image from NYTimes.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/murakami-sketch_storyslide_image.jpg)

A sketch for Murakami's float balloons (image from NYTimes.com) 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/nyt_murakami5.jpg)

Murakami preps models for this floats (image from NYTimes.com)