"The reason why the title included the word 'study' is because it signals something new that is about to begin."
Monumental in scale and significance, Light Haze Days / Study stands as a major punctuation point in Yoshitomo Nara's oeuvre, encapsulating the artist's career-long examination of the self and signature ability to capture the zeitgeist of each generation. Ranking amongst the most important works by the artist to have ever appeared at auction, Light Haze Days / Study is a defining masterpiece and embodies a stylistically transcendent period within Nara's career. When explaining the immense importance of this painting within his artistic practice, Nara describes, "the reason why the title included the word 'study' is because it signals something new that is about to begin." (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Virtual Conversation with Yoshitomo Nara and Mika Yoshitake, 11 October 2020 (video)) When the installation of Nara's highly anticipated retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the most expansive in scope and scale of his career to date, was interrupted in 2020 by the coronavirus, the artist returned to his home in Japan. Amid a profound period of universal unrest and self-reflection, Nara produced Light Haze Days/ Study. Enigmatic and ethereal, the painting returns to the artist's iconic, ostensibly innocuous, singular portraits of doe-eyed girls – a vision as iconic and pervasive in the contemporary visual lexicon as Warhol's Marilyn's and Lichtenstein's blonde bombshells – with a singular tenderness. Though Nara did not originally intend to produce this painting for the retrospective, it inevitably became a centerpiece of the final gallery upon the reopening of the show, included amongst "a compilation of [his] best work to date." (Ibid.) Further attesting to its caliber, Light Haze Days / Study was included in a second major survey of Yoshitomo Nara's work at Yuz Museum earlier this year.
"These works were born not from confronting the other, but from confronting my own self."
Yoshitomo Nara's spellbinding Light Haze Days / Study evinces the earnest sensitivity and captivating complexities of the artist's signature protagonists. Impeccably rendered against a background of saturated yellows, the rosy-cheeked girl gazes at the viewer with startling intensity, dichotomously vulnerable and defiant, relatable and inscrutable. In Light Haze Days/ Study, the layers of prismatic hues appear to both reveal and mirror the complexity of the deeply enthralling, seemingly luminous, figure. Here for the first time, Nara returns to his most recognizable motif with a new stylistic direction, one that is routed in his fundamental appreciation for art history. Coded with autobiographical and historical references, Light Haze Days / Study transcends audiences and defies categorization, forcing the viewer to examine their individual perception of encountering the work. During a period of global despair and uncertainty, through Light Haze Days / Study, Nara radically responds with a painting imbued with radiant positivity and a joyful palette, a defiant response to his surroundings. The galactic eyes and large scale imbue Nara's protagonist with a sense of intimacy, her celestial gaze piercing the viewer's soul. Refusing a singular referential understanding, the figure becomes a universally relatable representation of the present generation, tenderly illustrated with an emotional honesty unique to Yoshitomo Nara.
Yoshitomo Nara: Market Precedent
Light Haze Days / Study sees Nara depart from his trademark linear outlines and flattened technique. As the artist describes: "one thing that is certain is no longer the line but becoming the touch. I can no longer draw a line like in a drawing… but I'm making the piece by pressing (touch), like French modern… something becomes unique by tearing down what is fundamental. If you go back to the basics, then you'll begin to see the answers again. For me, this is Modern Art" (Ibid.) A transcendent and pivotal artwork within Nara's oeuvre, Light Haze Daze/ Study explores the artist’s fundamental engagement with art history; contoured with vibrant pastels and cadmium yellow hues, the present work recalls the tonal sensitivity and delicate brushwork of Claude Monet’s Nymphéas. The stunning array of densely layered brushwork and varied tonal saturation also nods towards George Seurat's pointillism and Pierre Bonnard's vibrant portraits. Combining the graphic style of Japanese Neo-Pop associated with contemporaries such as Takashi Murakami and the traditions of Japanese theatrical masks with the alluring archetypes of French Modernism, Light Haze Daze/ Study embodies the deeply personal and intuitive amalgamation of art historical precedents that characterize Nara's unique artistic vernacular.
"Amidst this pandemic, no one can predict what will happen. Everything is going this way and that way. And in that sense, placing the [present] work as a foundation, I also feel like I'm swaying here and there, but within this there is an honesty and hesitation. There isn't anything that is clear … The painting shows well that feeling of honest hesitation."
Nara analogizes the present work to his series of sculptures which responded to the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan; when the natural disaster stuck, the artist was overwhelmed with grief. Through molding clay and wrestling with a large clump of the earth, he found a way to respond. As Nara explains, "My latest work is similar to this, it's not the hand, but the brush, big touch, applying lots of different colors feels a bit like wrestling." (Ibid.) Particularity relevant in the context of the pandemic and global uprising, Light Haze Days / Study reveals a period of introspection and contemplation for the artist, in which, through this painting, he sought to grapple with the surrounding world. Here, it is as if Nara examines and echoes the fractured sense of self-understanding and isolation felt by many globally during the COVID-19 pandemic with an unparalleled virtuosity and aesthetic brilliance.
The painting similarly recalls the patchworked strips of canvas that Nara began to collage into his 2000 paintings, the layers of canvas reward meticulous viewing and reveal a subtle sculptural quality. In the present work, the layers of blush pinks and warm pastel pigment, complimented by the vibrant background of cadmium yellow, render haptic forms and ambiguity to the figure and her surroundings, encouraging the imagination of the viewer and individualized interpretation. While Nara's figure appears kawaii on the surface, upon further inspection, she is deeply intricate, ranging in an array of complex emotions from serenity to grief, joy to defiance. In his work, Nara's coopts the kawaii aesthetics of Manga and creates characters that confirm in their aesthetic but rebel in their piercing and confrontational gaze. Although they may initially be perceived as demure and childlike with their cherub features, Nara's heroines reflect an enduring complexity, a defiant examination and confrontation of the self.
A culmination of Yoshitomo Nara's career to date, the present work is boldly self-aware and introspective; Light Haze Daze/ Study sees Nara mine his signature aesthetic vocabulary and the foundational influences on his practice to create an incomparable masterwork. Enchanting and euphoric, Light Haze Daze/ Study is a stunning and joyous testament to Nara’s playful manipulation of color and form. Nara defiantly responds to the global upheaval and unrest of the pandemic with a painting dichotomously permeated with a zealous spirit and lush vitality.
As Nara describes, "these works were born not from confronting the other, but from confronting my own self." (Yoshitomo Nara quoted in: Exh. Cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Yoshitomo Nara, 2020 (online)) Beguiling and iconic, Nara's protagonist illuminates his idiosyncratic artistic vernacular, grounding the figure in something universally relatable, a collective and globalized culture. Nara's heroine meets our eyes with a penetrating gaze, confronting the self and revealing a rebellious nature within. Tender and transfixing, the present work is a stunning testament to the unparalleled emotionality and captivating sincerity that situates Nara as Japan's most internationally acclaimed living painter.
