Yoshitomo Nara

Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959) is one of the most celebrated representatives of his generation. He received international recognition for his Angry Girls: stylized depictions of large-headed children with captivating eyes who appear threatening, defiant, angry, or melancholy and insecure—and are now considered veritable icons of contemporary painting. While the aesthetics of Nara’s characters are reminiscent of the Japanese cult comics known as mangas, his figures, animals, and hybrid creatures are first and foremost a reflection of his own memories and feelings. In these works, the artist explores his own experiences of childhood, much of which was marked by loneliness and isolation due to the fact that he had working parents. In spite of this, his love of music and literature, his knowledge of Japanese and European art history, and his encounters with other cultures provided him with varied sources of inspiration. In his work, Nara counters kawaii aesthetics—the typically Japanese style of exaggerated cuteness—with rebellious and recalcitrant protagonists. These figures symbolize the artist’s pacifist, socially critical, and cosmopolitan attitude that is influenced by his in-depth examination of Japan’s historical role during World War II.

In the exhibition Yoshitomo Nara, the artist’s first major retrospective in Germany, the Museum Frieder Burda presents paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations from the past four decades. In a sense, this allows this extraordinary Japanese artist to return to the country that significantly formed his biography. Nara was born in a suburb of Hirosaki in the isolated north of Japan in 1959. After studying painting at the University of the Arts in Aichi, he moved to the renowned Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf in the late 1980s. For twelve years he remained in Germany, and it was here that he developed his unique visual language. In 2000 Nara returned to Japan, where he is still active as an artist.

Among the numerous international lenders are the Jumex Collection in Mexico City, the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, the National Museum of Art in Osaka, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Among the highlights of the retrospective are numerous masterpieces from private collections that are normally not accessible to the general public.

Exhibition co-organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, and the Hayward Gallery, London.