Behind the art and fashion worlds' obsession with Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami sat dashing off a portrait of artist Shahzia Sikander, one of several high-profile personalities he would sketch that afternoon in late April in advance of his new exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, the United States.

- Ruth La Ferla

CLEVELAND - Takashi Murakami sat dashing off a portrait of artist Shahzia Sikander, one of several high-profile personalities he would sketch that afternoon in late April in advance of his new exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, the United States.

Cameras clicked and whirred, focused less on his subjects than on the artist himself, who was kitted out for the occasion in a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, a loose-fitting frock coat and an outsize helmet that lent him the look of a rainbow-crested chicken.

The peripatetic Tokyo-based artist, entrepreneur, cultural critic and self-styled brand had arrived in the wee hours to oversee the installation of his exhibition Stepping On The Tail Of A Rainbow, set to open to the public on May 25, complete with a true-to-scale replica of a portion of an ancient temple at Nara in Japan.

But Murakami, 63, seemed to take the moment in stride, sketching tirelessly as a small crowd craned to take in his performance.

His playfully eccentric get-up was conceived partly to captivate his followers. They are the critics, collectors, hypebeasts and, at least as ardently, a world of tastemakers and style setters – among them singer-songwriters Usher and Pharrell Williams, and fashion entrepreneur Sarah Andelman who travel in his orbit.

His image, a variation on the manga and anime and emoji-inspired characters that populate his work, is strategic.

"Takashi is a style icon, aware of the role an artist can play in a public sphere," said Mr Sky Gellatly, who forged relationships between Murakami and a number of artists and lifestyle brands. "His attention to the details of his outfits are part of a holistic expression for his work and his collaborations."

Well aware of some followers' cult-like enthusiasm, the artist himself is loath to let them down.

"In a competitive world, there are just two choices," he said.