How Memories Come Alive in Yoshitomo Nara’s Favorite Painting | Sotheby’s

A personal favourite of the artist that was chosen as the cover image of the definitive 2020 monograph, Yoshitomo Nara’s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight presents a monumental, arresting and tender vision – a paradigm of the artist’s mature painterly practice. Painted in 2017, the present work was selected as the principle image of two of the artist’s most recent surveys; the first being Nara’s first international retrospective - held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, before travelling to the YUZ Museum in Shanghai, the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Kunsthall Rotterdam - and the second held at the Aomori Museum of Art in Nara’s hometown. Ranking amongst the most important works by the artist to have ever appeared at auction, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is a defining masterpiece, encapsulating the artist's career-long examination of the self and signature ability to capture the sentiment of each generation.

Enigmatic and ethereal, the present work returns to Nara’s iconic portraits of doe-eyed girls with a singular tenderness, evincing a sentiment which ultimately led to the work becoming a centrepiece of the artist’s most recent Museum retrospectives. Larger than life, Nara’s heroine emerges from a background bearing the singular shade of chartreuse, while her hair and clothes reveal softly iridescent kaleidoscopes of autumnal hues. The chromatic complexity of the painting exudes an absorbing golden glow reminiscent of the shimmering surfaces of Gustav Klimt, the layers of prismatic colour appearing to both reveal and mirror the complexity of the deeply enthralling, seemingly luminous, figure and, most particularly, her eyes. Impeccably rendered and capturing the complexities of the artist’s signature protagonists, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is a museum quality work, with two 2017 works of comparable gravity now residing within the collections of The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Returning to his most recognisable motif with a more meditative and introspective aesthetic, the present work exemplifies Nara’s mature painterly practise. It was in 2012 that Nara began to soften the mischievous and hostile expression of his figures following the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011. The utter devastation of the Earthquake and subsequent Fukushima Disaster brought Nara a closer spiritual connection to his home in the North of Japan, bringing the artist back to some of the seminal influences in his life. The childlike figure of the present work draws attention to the act of memory and its impact on present emotional states in that she embodies something of the artist’s own formative memories. The influence of music on the artist is well-established, being a vital component of both his working practice and the emotive spirit behind his art. Albums, and the memories associated with them, frequently inspire the tone, theme or mood of a particular work, with the present work taking its name from the formative 1974 album I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT by Richard and Linda Thompson. As the curator of Nara’s retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art describes, “Some works draw on the mood of an album, such as Richard and Linda Thompson's I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT (1974). The album cover's yellow-green palette with fiery red title letters spelled out on wet glass translates into Nara's serene 2017 wide-eyed portrait, which clearly nods to the album with the same title.” (Mika Yoshitake, quoted in Arthur Nguyen, “Yoshitomo Nara: A Conversation with Curator Mika Yoshitake”, LACMA Unframed, 10 March 2021). Radiating with childlike wonder, the celestial gaze of the present work pierces the viewer with a sense of intimacy that belies its expansive scale, conveying an emotional naivety informed by the artist’s own formative memories.

Exemplifying Nara’s mature painterly accomplishments, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight reveals a patience in its making that belies the emotional complexity behind its creation. Exhibiting a formal harmony and sensitivity of colour and brushwork, the figure’s face takes on an almost aqueous quality as it is made and unmade by the traces of Nara's brush. The delicate presence of the figure, her extremities made permeable under Nara’s intricate brushwork, communicates the artist's own vulnerability. This emotional evolution which occurred in Nara’s work following the 2011 Earthquake was accompanied by a maturation of the artist’s formal techniques; where rounded edges and childlike colours, seen in such works as The Girl with the Knife in Her Hand (1991), once defined his portraits of big-headed girls, he now plays with their contours by diluting his signature bold outlines.

Retaining the material traces of its creation, we are able to glimpse traces of orbs, freckles, and swathes hidden beneath many layers of paint on the surface of the present work, a tonal richness which is only visible when one intimately engages with the work. The surface of the canvas makes up only a part of what comprises the work as a whole, there being a stark contrast between the final composition and the innumerable layer that comprise it. Behind the pastel colours of the figure's skin and the rich, autumnal shades of her clothing and hair, there are layers of electric magenta and green which Nara then paints over with softer colours. Sharing a image of the present work in the artist’s studio on his Instagram, this richness of colour is on full display: a field of bright magentas, blues, burnt umber and warm yellows are later altered with pale pinks, olive greens, and velvety browns that he applies with greater movement until a final coherent version appears. In its final form, these shades are only seen in shimmering traces that delicately emerge on the work’s surface in between the soothing yellows, greens and auburns. A masterful work and a high point of this mature series that explores the effects of colour, Nara’s overpainting achieves a tonal depth which belies the flatness of the oil paint itself, producing complex values of tones, hues, highlights, and saturations.

From his earliest works influenced by German Neo- Expressionism, to the bold rebel girls of the early 1990s with their strong contour lines and sparse backgrounds, to the ethereal, sentimental gazes of his most recent series, we are now able to see the full arc of Nara’s big-headed girls. These figures, variously shy, aggressive, pensive, fragile and strong, have become amongst the most beloved imagery of the last thirty years, displaying a range of emotions that defy their ostensible kawaii countenance. A culmination of Nara's career to date, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is an enchanting and joyous testament to Nara’s idiosyncratic artistic vernacular. A beguiling masterwork, Nara's protagonist illuminates something universally relatable with her tender and transfixing gaze, epitomising the unparalleled emotionality and captivating sincerity that situates Nara as Japan's most internationally acclaimed living painter.

《我 願今夜一睹璀璨光輝》是奈良美智本人最喜愛的作品，奈良於2020年出版的作品集也以本作為封面圖。本作尺幅恢宏，畫面迷人溫雅，是展現奈良藝術造詣的極致典例。本作創作於2017年，曾用作奈良最近兩場個展的主圖像，第一場是洛杉磯縣藝術博物館為奈良舉行的首個國際回顧展，其後巡迴至上海余德耀美術館、畢爾包古根海姆美術館和鹿特丹美術館，另一場個展是在奈良家鄉的青森縣立美術館舉行。《我願今夜一睹璀璨光輝》堪稱奈良登上拍場的最重要作品之一，其概括了奈良於整個創作生涯的自我審視，體現他以獨特技巧捕捉每一代人的情感體會，實屬卓絕傑作。

本作神秘迷人，構圖空靈，經典重現奈良筆下的天真大眼女孩。畫中女孩溫柔可愛，所展現的情感內涵，讓本作成為奈良近年博物館級回顧展的核心展品。本作的小女孩大於真人，從色調明亮獨特的黃綠背景浮現，頭髮和衣服映照出柔和繽紛、如萬花筒般變幻無窮的秋日色彩。本作用色複雜多變，煥發醉人金黃色光芒，教人聯想起古斯塔夫・克林姆金光閃爍的畫作。小女孩彷彿微微發光，令人著迷，極富層次的絢麗色彩突顯出奈良筆下的天真女孩，尤其是她的雙眼。本作可謂博物館級水平，筆觸輕盈細膩，展現小女孩複雜難懂的思緒，另外兩幅創作於2017年的同類型重磅鉅作，分別入藏於華盛頓特區美國國家美術館和洛杉磯縣藝術博物館。

本作呈現奈良的成熟畫風，他運用一種兼具冥想和內省的美學，描繪他最具標誌性的女孩。2011年3月11日，日本發生東北大地震，隨後一年，奈良開始改變處理女孩表情的方式，女孩的頑皮性情和敵意漸漸軟化。地震的蹂躪和其後的福島核災，為奈良帶來與在日本北部的家鄉更深刻的精神連結，讓他重新認識生活中的其他重要面向。本作的女孩充滿童真，反映了一部分形成奈良性格的記憶，展現回憶這個行為和當中經歷的事情對目前情緒產生的影響。本作也明顯可見奈良深受音樂薰陶，是組成他畫法和作品情緒的重要元素。音樂專輯和與之相關的回憶，經常啟發奈良如何構思作品的風格、主題和氣氛，本作標題就是出自英國民謠搖滾樂隊理查德和琳達・湯普森的1974年專輯《I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight》。正如為奈良在洛杉磯縣藝術博物館舉行回顧展的策展人所言：「部分作品借鑑了理查德和琳達・湯普森的專輯《I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight》（1974年），專輯封面採用黄綠色背景，濕玻璃上拼出火紅色的標題，轉化成奈良於2017年創作的大眼女孩肖像，神態祥和，顯然是向那張同名專輯點頭致意」（引述吉竹美香，載亞瑟・阮，〈奈良美智：與策展人吉竹美香對話〉，《LACMA Unframed》，2021年3月10日）。本作流露童稚般的好奇，女孩凝視觀者的眼神超越俗世，看透人心，營造與巨大畫幅相悖的親密感，展現貫穿奈良初始記憶的純真情感。

本作是代表奈良畫功圓熟的典例，揭示他在創作情感如此複雜的作品時，展現了無比耐性。女孩臉容詳和秀逸，色彩和用筆盡展感性，奈良以畫筆添加和抹掉透薄的顏料，營造出水潤平滑的質感。女孩精緻嬌柔，細膩筆觸讓她的手和身體彷彿可以輕易穿透，表達了奈良本人的脆弱。奈良經歷2011年東北大地震後，作品就出現重大的情感變化，隨之而來的還有他已然成熟的畫技；見於《執刀的女孩》（1991年作）的圓潤邊線和充滿稚氣的用色，都是他筆下大頭女孩的標誌特色，但現在他將粗線淡化，以色彩塑造人物輪廓。

本作保留了創作物料的痕跡，顏料層層交織之下，打圈的線條、雀斑、和大筆揮灑依稀可見，而且只有在近距離觀賞本作時，才得以一覽飽滿色彩的各種層次。畫作表面僅是構成作品的一部分，留在表面的最終成品與畫面之下的無數色層有著鮮明的對比。女孩皮膚的嫩粉色和頭髮與衣服的濃豔秋日色彩之下，其實塗上了打底的鮮豔洋紅和亮綠色。奈良在Instagram分享了本作放在工作室的照片，濃麗色彩一覽無遺：亮麗洋紅、藍色、褐色、焦茶色、暖黃的部分，後來被奈良大片抹上的淺粉紅、橄欖綠和絲絨般軟滑的棕色所取代，最終產生色彩連貫融和的成品。當奈良完成畫作時，這些豐富色彩只會成為透現於作品表面的細微筆觸，若隱若現於黃色、綠色和紅褐色的顏料表面。本作是奈良一系列探索色彩效果的成熟作品中最精彩之作，看似平滑的油彩隱含了由疊加筆觸造成的色彩深度，讓顏料從色調、色相、亮部和彩度各方面展現出複雜精細的效果。

 
從受德國新表現主義影響的早年作品，到九十年代初仃立在空寥背景前、邊線粗深的叛逆敢行女孩，以至近年眼神空靈澄澈、充滿柔情的女孩，目前所見就是奈良的招牌大頭女孩如何演化的完整軌跡。他筆下的人物或害羞、或進取、或鬱鬱寡歡、或脆弱、或堅強，成為過去三十年最備受喜愛的形象，呈現各種與她們可愛外表毫不相符的情緒。《我願今夜一睹璀璨光輝》是奈良創作生涯至今的高峰之作，歡快迷人，見證奈良別具一格的藝術語言。畫中女孩以令人著迷的溫柔目光闡明引起普世共鳴的價值，總括了奈良作品中獨特的感人之處和魅力十足的真誠，正是這些特質讓奈良成為日本最享譽國際的在世畫家。