I nstantly recognisable as an ambassador for Yoshitomo Nara’s oeuvre, the whimsical and instantly charming Big Pup Head (2007) is representative of the artist’s memories of childhood. Featuring the emblematic sleeping dog from Nara’s cast of characters, the pup is a recurring figure in the artist’s oeuvre. The pup character appears often in Nara’s creations and has been rendered in life-size sculpture form, as well as being featured as the hero of Nara’s first illustrated book for children, The Lonesome Puppy (1999), which tells the story of a puppy so large that no one sees him – until a determined little girl climbs high enough to meet him and become his friend. The story is a tale of isolation and sadness, which eventually leads to acceptance and happiness—sentiments which are no doubt captured in the serene, smiling and sleeping Big Pup Head presently on offer. The present work recalls not only this sweet tale but also encapsulates Nara’s epochal and universally resonant oeuvre. For this series, Nara produced two iterations of the pup head in white, and two in black which Sotheby’s previously auctioned in 2019. It is the first time this luminescent example in white has ever been brought to auction, a rare and exemplary piece by the artist.

The Big Pup Head is a visually stunning work that, whilst being a sculpture, recalls the recognisable aesthetics of Nara’s painting. Imbued with a subdued, soft glow that seems to emanate from within the pup, the pastel, glossy white of the fibreglass head recall komainu, the mythical lion-like animal statues commonly placed at the entrance to shrines in Japan as protective guardians. In comparison to many other well-known, large-scale Pup pieces that have been exhibited, such as the one at the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, amongst others, the present work’s delicate size is instantly arresting.

Frequently commented on during interviews, Nara’s childhood struggles with loneliness and feelings of abandonment are key leitmotifs in the artist’s oeuvre. Specifically, the figure of the dog reminds Nara of children, the two acting as “interchangeable representations of loneliness and solitude” throughout Nara’s work (The artist, quoted in Melissa Chiu, “A Conversation with the Artist”, in Miwako Tezuka and Melissa Chiu, Eds., Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool, New York 2010). Nara’s Big Pup Head stands for a sense of childhood confusion and the confluence of memory, a poignant symbol of universally experienced emotions within the landscape of the imagination.

《大 頭狗》（2007 年）描繪的是奈良美智筆下的熟睡小狗，承載著藝術家的童年回憶。小狗是奈良創作中的常客，不但會出現在作品之中，還會以真人大小的雕塑形式亮相。牠更曾在奈良美智的首本兒童繪本《孤獨的小狗》（1999 年）擔任主人翁，與小孩結伴同遊。繪本故事講述一隻小狗體型大到不被看見，直到一個堅定的小女孩爬到高處與牠相遇，成為牠的朋友，牠才不再寂寞孤單。故事圍繞孤獨與悲傷而展開，但最終迎來備受接納和幸福的圓滿結局。面前這隻睡得香甜的大頭狗，就正靜謐地流露著這些美好情感。本作不僅讓人回想起這個溫馨甜蜜的故事，還體現出奈良美智的創作具劃時代意義，能引人共鳴，觸動人心。《大頭狗》系列共有四版，分別是兩版白色和兩版黑色，後者在 2019 年曾經蘇富比拍賣，而前者則首次在拍賣會亮相，是奈良難得罕見的典範之作。

《大頭狗》雖然是一件雕塑，但仍流露出奈良畫作中的美學特質，視覺效果非常突出。充滿光澤的白色玻璃纖維頭部色調輕柔、質地光滑，所造成的柔和光芒，仿似發自小狗體內。《大頭狗》亦似狛犬，這種形似獅子的神話動物雕像一般置於日本神社的入口處，作為守護獸。相比起在弘前煉瓦倉庫美術館和波士頓美術館等地方展出的大型小狗作品，本作更見小巧精緻，溫婉動人。

奈良美智在採訪中經常提到，童年的孤獨和被遺棄感是他作品中的主旋律。他說狗讓他想到小孩，而小孩和狗「可以互相替換，代表孤獨和寂寞」（奈良美智，引述招穎思，〈與藝術家對話〉，手塚美和子和招穎思編，《奈良美智：没有人是傻瓜》，紐約，2010 年）。結合段段童年回憶，《大頭狗》訴說著童年的困惑不解，在幻想的國度中，代表著一份世人共有的悲傷。