Yoshitomo Nara

signed and dated '97, framed under Perspex

One drawing pin hole in each corner. Minor vertical crease in the top right corner, approx 3cm. Otherwise generally in very good condition overall.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tomio Koyama Gallery Inc., Tokyo.

Yoshitomo Nara's lone child figure has become a potent icon that has spurred a new class of Japanese contemporary artists who favour the primitive and the childlike in pictorial strategy.  The artist draws refreshingly simple portraits, the protagonist of which is always disproportionate—her head is overwhelmingly large while the rest of her body is abbreviated.  The reductive approach he employs in drawing and painting imparts an innocuous air to his figures, cumulating in a cuteness that is thoroughly infectious.  Accompanied by nothing but empty space, not even a suggestion of a background, his children are presented in plain view and prepared for scrutiny.  They are ready, though.  They are aware.  Her hand casually upheld into a "V" as a gesture for peace, her defiant stare through those upturned eyes with green pupils indicate otherwise. 

His works are a visual meditation on being a child—the freedom of being innocent yet unruly, vulnerable yet fearless.  Nara ventures a compelling proposal for how, perhaps, a grown-up might learn from these children in tackling the onslaughts of a harsh contemporary world.  His children, though isolated and left imprisoned within the confines of four edges, boast a self-assurance laced with a covert aggression, even.  They command the space around them and fill the void with unexpected aplomb and dramatic tension.  They are mischievous and unpredictable, their power lying squarely in their perceived innocence and spurious helplessness.  Nara's compositions constitute a perpetual battle where a cursory glance is always challenged by closer inspection.