Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) Japanese Artist and Designer

Advertisements
Yoshitomo Nara featured image
Yoshitomo Nara featured image

Yoshimoto Nara is a Japanese artist. He lives and works in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. His artwork has been housed at the MoMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (LACMA). His most well-known and repeated subject is a young girl with piercing eyes.

Education

Nara grew up in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, about 300 miles north of the Tochigi Prefecture. His exposure to Western music on the American military radio station Far East Network in Honshu influenced his artistic imagination early. Later, he would provide cover art for bands, including Shonen Knife, R.E.M., and Bloodthirsty Butchers. He received his B.F.A. (1985) and an M.F.A. (1987) from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany.

Advertisements

Biography

In June 2005, Nara’s artwork was featured in the “Suspended Animation” album by the experimental band Fantômas. Other commercial products (including videos, books, magazines, catalogues and monographs) have been dedicated to Nara’s work. A two-volume catalogue raisonné of all his sculptures, paintings, and drawings was recently completed.

In 2010, the Asia Society showed Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool, the first major New York exhibition of his work. Other major retrospectives include: “I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me”, which toured Japan between 2001 and 2002, and “Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens,” which travelled the United States from 2003 to 2005. One of his exhibited works is now part of a window of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England.

Influences

Though Nara claims to have never said he was influenced by manga, the imagery of manga and anime of his 1960s childhood is often cited when discussing Nara’s stylized, large-eyed figures. Nara subverts these images, however, by infusing his works with horror-like imagery. This juxtaposition of human evil with the innocent child may be a reaction to Japan’s rigid social conventions.

Yoshimoto Nara
TO GO WITH STORY: Hong Kong-Japan-Art-Basel-Nara,INTERVIEW by Caroline HENSHAW AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP) (Photo by PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Advertisements

Nara cites his musical education as a foundational influence on his art. The punk rock music of Nara’s youth has also influenced his work.

Nara’s upbringing in post-World War II Japan profoundly affected his mindset and, subsequently, his artwork. He grew up when Japan was experiencing an inundation of Western pop culture; comic books, Warner Bros and Walt Disney animation, and Western rock music are just a few examples. Additionally, Nara was raised in the isolated countryside as a latchkey child of working-class parents, so he was often left alone with little to do but explore his young imagination. The fiercely independent subjects that populate so much of his artwork may be a reaction to Nara’s own largely independent childhood.

Exhibitions

  • 2018 – “Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works and …” – Pace, Hong Kong
  • 2018 – “Drawings: 1988-2018 Last 30 Years” – Kaikai Kiki, Tokyo
  • 2017 – “for better or worse” – Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
  • 2016 – “Yoshitomo Nara: New Works” – Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
  • 2015 – “Shallow Puddles” – Blum and Poe, Tokyo[23]
  • 2014 – “Yoshitomo Nara” – Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
  • 2009 – “15TH ANNIVERSARY INAUGURAL EXHIBITION” – Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
  • 2008 – “Yoshitomo Nara and installation by Y.N.G.” – Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
  • 2004 – “Yoshitomo Nara – New Works” – Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
  • 2003 – “Inaugural Group Show” – Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
  • 2001 – “YOSHITOMO NARA In the White Room: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings” – Blum and Poe, Santa Monica
  • 1999 – “YOSHITOMO NARA An Exhibition of Sculpture in Two Parts (PARTS I & II)” – Blum and Poe, Santa Monica
  • 1997 – “Yoshitomo Nara” – Blum and Poe, Santa Monica
  • 1995 – “YOSHITOMO NARA: PACIFIC BABIES – Los Angeles International ’95 In Cooperation with SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo” – Blum and Poe, Santa Monica
Advertisements

A Selection from MoMA

Yoshimoto Nara in our partner stores

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, January 1). Yoshitomo Nara. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:37, January 9, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yoshitomo_Nara&oldid=1063132731

Advertisements

You may also be interested in

  • Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) Japanese manga artist and cartoonist

    Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) Japanese manga artist and cartoonist

    OSAMU TEZUKA, who was revered as the “god of manga,” watched Bambi eighty times, until he had memorised every frame, and dreamed of equaling or surpassing Disney realism in his own animation.Read More →

  • The Timeless Beauty of Traditional Japanese Furniture

    The Timeless Beauty of Traditional Japanese Furniture

    Traditional Japanese Furniture Traditional Japanese furniture is known for being simple and useful. It is often used for eating, teaRead More →

  • RIP – Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, dies 84.

    RIP – Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, dies 84.

    Issey Miyake died on August 5, 2022, in a Tokyo hospital of liver cancer. He founded the Miyake Design Studio in 1970.Read More →

  • Masakazu Kobayashi (b.1944) Japanese textile designer

    Masakazu Kobayashi (b.1944) Japanese textile designer

    Masakazu Kobayashi studied at the University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. He manifested traditional textile techniques and aesthetics in his work. Between 1966 and 1975, he worked as a textile designer for Kawashima. His 1982 fabric evoked komon, a textile dyeing technique which uses paper patterns with small motifs.Read More →

  • Japan Advertising Artists Club pioneer of Japanese Graphic Design

    Japan Advertising Artists Club pioneer of Japanese Graphic Design

    In the 1960s, the JAAC’s philosophy came under fire for being overly reliant on exhibitions as a platform for innovative ideas. Furthermore, during the turbulent 1960s, a perceived emphasis on aesthetics at the expense of social significance, combined with allegations of elitism, led to the organisation’s disbandment in 1970.Read More →

  • Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) Japanese Artist and Designer

    Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) Japanese Artist and Designer

    Nara grew up in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, about 300 miles north of the Tochigi Prefecture. His exposure to Western music on the American military radio station Far East Network in Honshu influenced his artistic imagination early. Later, he would provide cover art for bands including Shonen Knife, R.E.M., and Bloodthirsty Butchers.Read More →

  • Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Yusaku Kamekura’s poster emphasises the brilliance and clarity attained with the Nikon lens and the technical perfection of his client’s camera by using brilliant optical patterns and powerful, white letter-forms against an intensely dark background. Read More →

  • Soichiro Sasakura (b.1949) Japanese Glassware Designer

    Soichiro Sasakura (b.1949) Japanese Glassware Designer

    He worked for Sasaki Glass, for which he designed the 1988 San Marino glassware range.Read More →

  • Ukiyo​-e, Pictures of the floating world

    Ukiyo​-e, Pictures of the floating world

    Ukiyo-e, translated as “pictures of the floating world,” has captured wisps of the natural beauty that one sees every day. These prints are a record of 18th and 19th-century life in Japan and had a profound effect on the great Western artists of the time.Read More →

  • Netsuke – Small Mythological carvings from Japan

    Netsuke – Small Mythological carvings from Japan

    Netsuke: A little Japanese sculptured item of ivory, wood, or porcelain that ranges in height and width from one-half to three inches. Mythological images, flowers, animals, gods, and goddesses are among the carvings. Netsuke pieces were initially employed as toggles in the fourteenth century. A cord was slipped under and over the obi and through a…

  • Black Wire Chair by Oki Sato

    Black Wire Chair by Oki Sato

    Oki Santo designed this chair; it was a part of a series called Thin Black Lines. The series includes a chair and clothes rack intended to appear as sketches in the air or calligraphy symbols. Thin black lines like the traces of sketches drawn in the air made transparent surfaces and volumes appear, which we…

  • Shinjuku at night – Colour Palette

    Shinjuku at night – Colour Palette

    After a ten days holiday in Tokyo which ended up a visual feast.  I took hundreds of photos with my iPhone the colour within this is vivid and I was interested what type of colour palette I was able to extract from it.  I call it Shinjuku.Read More →

  • Dorodango Japanese polished dirt balls

    Dorodango Japanese polished dirt balls

    The hand-rolling of this soil-based mixture can be relaxing and comfortable to do. Dorodango is not without its difficulties and needs a high degree of skill, patience and concentration. Given the fragility and inclination of the dorodango to break, the perfectly formed ball is elusive. It can also be a challenging process to achieve the…

  • Sori Yanagi – Japanese Industrial Designer

    Sori Yanagi – Japanese Industrial Designer

    Sori Yanagi (1915-2011) was an industrial designer from Japan. Although previously trained as a fine artist and worked in an architectural studio, Yanagi went on to study industrial design in 1947.Read More →

  • Fujiwo Ishimoto Japanese born textile & ceramic designer

    Fujiwo Ishimoto Japanese born textile & ceramic designer

    The natural world and its phenomena influence Ishimoto’s works. His designs have basic forms that are coupled with vibrant exterior constructions and lavish ornamentation. Ishimoto has won the State Industrial Arts Prize, the Kaj Franck Design Prize, and Honourable Mentions at the Finland Designs show in 1983, 1989, and 1993, among other awards. He was…

  • Kogin Insect Brooches by Hine Mizushima (reblog)

    Kogin Insect Brooches by Hine Mizushima (reblog)

    Embroidered insect brooches neatly contained in specimen boxes by Vancouver-based artist Hine Mizushima. The brooches, created using hand-dyed Kogin fabrics, threads and Japanese glass beads, are for a group exhibition entitled The Kingdom of Specimens at Ranbu gallery in Osaka, Japan. Read More →

  • Harue Koga delightful illustrations and paintings ♥︎

    Harue Koga delightful illustrations and paintings ♥︎

    . He dropped out of junior high school to pursue a career as a painter, and in 1912, he relocated to Tokyo. He studied at the Taiheiyoga-institute kai’s and then the Japan Watercolor Painting Society’s institute. Koga became a priest in 1915 and studied Buddhism at Taisho University. Read More →

  • Yohji Yamamoto (b.1943) Japanese Fashion Designer

    Yohji Yamamoto (b.1943) Japanese Fashion Designer

    Yohji Yamamoto fashion is exemplified by ease and wearability. READ MORE about this innovative radically different Japanese Designer.Read More →

  • Japanese Shower Curtain – Sakura Bloom Design

    Japanese Shower Curtain – Sakura Bloom Design

    The cherry blossoms, known as sakura in Japan, are well known for their radiant, delicate, and fleeting beauty. However, the sakura are more than just beautiful trees; they have deep roots in Japanese history, culture, and identity.Read More →

  • Hinoki Wood Bath Mat

    Hinoki Wood Bath Mat

    Turn your bath into a zen retreat with this handcrafted hinoki wood bath mat. Native to central Japan, hinoki wood is known for its light hue, incredibly soft feel, and aromatic scent. You heard right – when wet, hinoki wood releases a scent that’s both therapeutic and calming. Trust us, and the scent is heavenly.Read…

Related Links

❤️ Receive our newsletter

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.