Yoshitomo Nara

요시토모 나라 (b. 1959)는 일본 네오 팝(Neo Pop)의 상징이자 그 세대의 가장 호평받는 영향력 있는 작가 중 한 명이다. 악동같은 어린 아이들의 얼굴과 동물을 표현하는 것으로 잘 알려져 있는 나라는 지난 20여년 동안 회화, 드로잉, 설치 작품, 청동, 도자기, 혹은 수지로 만든 조각 등 수많은 매체를 넘나들며 그의 세계를 끊임없이 발전시켜 왔다. 저항과 자유를 노래하는 록 음악에 대한 각별한 관심과 더불어 작가 어린 시절의 추억, 동시대 사건들에 대한 개인적인 염려들은 그의 시각적 표현에 있어 가장 중요한 영향력을 끼친다. 나아가 일본 전통 연극 가면의 특징과 만화 특유의 얼굴 표현법을 결합하며 그의 독자적인 시각언어를 구축 시켰다. 나라의 작품에 등장하는 아이들의 초상은 남자도, 여자도 아닌 중성적인 존재이면서, 굉장히 순수하고, 연약해 보이면서도 반항심과 잔인한 감정이 미묘하게 뒤섞여 있는 것이 특징이다. 이는 작가 자신의 내면 세계를 반영하는 나라의 독자적인 “감정적 풍경화”이다. “나는 행복할 때 그림을 그리지 않는다. 화가 나고, 외롭고, 슬플 때, 그렇게 내가 작품과 대화 할 수 있을 때 만 그림을 그린다” 라는 작가의 말과 같이, 작품 속에 드러난 복합적 감정은 나라의 예술적 태도가 진실되게 스며들며 분출된 것이다. 얼핏 보기에 더할 나위 없이 앙증맞고 사랑스러워 보이는 인상과 달리, 나라의 이미지들은 현대사회를 살고 있는 우리들 내면 속 깊게 감춰진 감정들은 조심스럽게 이끌어내는 힘이 있다. 

Associated with Neo-Pop movement in Japan, Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959) is one of the most acclaimed and influential artists of his generation. Best known for his depictions of nightmarish children and animals, Nara has played with a vast range of medium including paintings, drawings, installation works, and sculptures in bronze, ceramic, and fiber-reinforced plastic for more than 20 years. Nara’s interest in rock music, memories of childhood, and personal concerns over the current events are the greatest influences for his critical inventions. By blending Japanese typical forms of traditional theatrical masks, manga, and anime cartoons, Nara distinctively displays the portraits of young children, whose facial expressions reveal such innocent, vulnerable, yet rebellious and sulky emotions while neutralizing their gender. Through his works, Nara creates a unique “emotional landscape” that reflect his encounters with his inner self. As he once mentioned, "I don’t paint when I am happy. I only paint when I am angry, lonely, sad, when I am able to talk to the work," the emotional complexities he presents within his body of works are the true representation of his artistic sensibility. Although his works give off an adorable impression at first glance, each face constantly and carefully appeals to the viewers’ sentimental states that they feel living in the contemporary society.

Born 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan

Lives and works in Tochigi, Japan

Education 

1987  MA, Graduate School of Aichi Prefectural University of Art, Japan

1988-1993 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany

1993  Completed Meisterschuler from A.R. Penk

Selected Solo Shows 

2020

Yoshitomo Nara, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA (forthcoming)

2019              

Yoshitomo Nara: Drawings – Last 31 Years, Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, Francc

En/trance: Yoshitomo Nara, Japan Society, New York, USA

2018             

Yoshitomo Nara: Puppy Love, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA

Yoshitomo Nara: Drawings 1988–2018, Last 30 Years, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Yoshitomo Nara: Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone—Take your time, it won’t be long now, Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film, Tokyo, Japan

Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works and…, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong 

2017             

Yoshitomo Nara: Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Daikanyama Hillside Plaza, Tokyo, Japan

Yoshitomo Nara: For Better or Worse: Works 1987–2017, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan

Yoshitomo Nara: Thinker, Pace Gallery, New York, USA

Selected Group Shows

2020

STARS: Six Contemporary Artists from Japan to the World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (forthcoming)

2019

Blue is Hot and Red is Cold, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany

Conversations: Contemporary Asian Art, Hermitage Museum & Gardens, Norfolk, Virginia

The Life of Animals in Japanese Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,; travels to: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA

The Passion, The Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum, Holle, Germany

2018

Bubblewrap, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Japan

The Incongruous Body, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, USA

Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and Asia Culture Center, South Korea

Sea of Desire, Fondation Carmignac, Ile de Porquerôles, France

My Favorites: Toshio Hara Selects from the Permanent Collection, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

2017

Japanorama. A New Vision on Art Since 1970, The Centre Pompidou-Metz, France

Global New Art, Woodone Museum of Art, Hiroshima, Japan 

Expected: Cool Japan, Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands

Chewing Gum II, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong 

Selected Public Collection

Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music, Nagakute, Japan 

The Art Institute of Chicago, USA

British Museum, London, UK

Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris, France

Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, USA

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

Fondation Carmignac, Paris, France

Hirosaki City, Aomori, Japan 

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan 

Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea

The Long Museum, Shanghai, China

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA

The Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, USA

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, USA

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 

New Century Art Foundpeation, Beijing, China

Patong Municipality, Phuket, Thailand

Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA

Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

Rubell Family Collection, New York and Miami, USA

Shiseido Art House, Kakegawa, Shizuoka, Japan 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA

Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan 

Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Japan

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan