Murakami's style is an amalgam of his Western predecessors, Warhol, Oldenberg and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as Japanese predecessors and contemporaries of anime and manga. Murakami has dubbed this style "Superflat," which is, in part, a tribute to the two-dimensional style of some Japanese cartoons. Murakami has also explained the style as a reference to such high-tech devices as flat-screen televisions and computer monitors. The term also reflects the smashing of distinctions between fine art and commercial art, between high culture and low. Murakami told Interview, "In Japan, there is no high and there is no low. It's all flat."
ArtNews reported Murakami's work as being among the most valued in the world, and Takashi Murakami has been named one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" - the only visual artist included.
