Trained in the traditional Japanese pictorial style, Murakami grew up in a society with a flattened social hierarchy.
He coined the term Superflat in his writings, and also uses it to describe his oeuvre. Apart from its two-dimensional style, Superflat also refers to the disappearance of the barriers separating high art and mass culture, and provides a critical take on the structure of art itself.
His paintings are literally flat and may be read in the same way from a range of viewpoints.