FACT AND FICTION: ARTISTS
Yoshitomo Nara
View images of the artist work at the following
sites:
marianneboeskygallery.com
the-artists.org
Background information
Yoshitomo Nara was born in Hirosaki, Japan in 1959. Educated in Japan and
German, he speaks Japanese, German and English. He is a long-term resident
of Cologne and exhibits internationally. Nara mines the pop culture of his
childhood and contemporary life for the visual and conceptual form of his
artwork. He works in both 2D and 3D forms.
Read the artists CV at:
Blom
& Poe
Stylistically leaning heavily on Manga imagery, the lack
of context in the blank backgrounds frustrate attempts to create an easy
narrative.
The figures look like they should be innocent, charming and as he employs
the visual language of ‘kawaii’ but there expressions seem malevolent,
knowing and disturbing, they smoke or clutch tiny utensils in their inadequate
limbs, they may have mischief in mind but they lack any sense of guilt.
“…an armless girl stalks a pencil-drawn horizon line asking
“Where do we go from here?’ As Nara has commented “I am
not making art to give the viewer hope. I’m creating [for] this generation
that has no power. I’m articulating or producing a scream for them.”
Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture edited
by Takashi Murakami
Published by Japan Society, New York, Yale University Press, New Haven and
London
Nara has said Giotto’s muted colours and static solid figures in shallow
space are very important influence on his art practice. This influence can
also been seen in the iconic quality of his childlike figures.
Nara's influences also come from closer to home in time and place in punk
and popular culture. A reoccurring character in his work is a little girl
figure Little Ramona. She is a reference to the punk band he admired the
Ramones. She appears in the format of a commemorative plate – high
kitsch indeed. But he has chosen this format quite deliberately.
Nara suggests that fine art is just a larger, more expensive version of
commercial products. He incorporates in his practice a quite conscious decision
to ‘democratise’ his work making it available in the form of
T-shirts, ashtrays, dolls and key chains. In this way he feels he enables
more people to own his artwork and engage with his discourse. In this he
has had success to the point where he has a following of young girls who
call themselves ‘Naras’ and who attend all his exhibitions.
Links to more articles and reviews
marianneboeskygallery.com
metroactive.com
assemblylanguage.com
Link to an interview with the artist at kultureflash.net
Other resources
Art AsiaPacific #39 Winter 2004 44 THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
YOSHITOMO NARA’S SINISTER CHILDREN BRING PUNK SENSIBILITY TO A CARTOON
FANTASY WORLD. by David Hunt