Yoshitomo Nara Is Now Represented by David Zwirner
The artist will open his first exhibition with the gallery at its New York flagship.
Summary
- David Zwirner Gallery has announced its representation of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara
- The announcement precedes a forthcoming solo exhibition by Nara in New York
- In addition to continue to his partnership with Joe Baptista of Equivalence Art Agency, the artist will continue his relationship with Pace Gallery
David Zwirner is welcoming Yoshitomo Nara to its powerhouse roster of artists, following the closure of BLUM this past summer. The announcement comes ahead of Nara’s new solo exhibition with the gallery at its New York flagship.
Celebrated as one of Japan’s most important living contemporary artists, Nara is best known for his highly-stylized, wide-eyed illustrations of children that are just as menacing and mischievous as they are disarmingly innocent. Isolated and self-contained, the humans and animals that populate Nara’s paintings are seen as emotional self-portraits. Swinging between vulnerability and rebellion, melancholy and hope, these cute and familiar serve as a means to comment on global and social issues, like nuclear disarmament, anti-war ideals and the environmental crisis, while embodying the themes and moods that shape human existence.
Born in Hirosake, a rural town in northern Japan, Nara’s childhood was situated between the fallout of World War II and the height of the Vietnam War. He cites countercultural art and music as an outlet for imagination and introspection, genres that continue to influence the youthful defiance central to his works: “This mentality gives me a sense of freedom, without which I would find it difficult to create work that feels authentic,” he once said. “It allows me to think with a childlike openness within a complicated society.”
“To me, Nara’s work is not unlike a great song: personal, emotive, uncompromising and open to experimentation,” David Zwirner expressed upon the announcement. “I have been a fan of [Nara] since I first encountered it in my hometown, Cologne, in the early 1990s. [His] work seemed so radical to me then, as it ran counter to the postconceptual strategies that were pervasive in the art world at the time. Instead, Nara invited us to contemplate a world of vulnerability and genuine human connection.”
As part of the new collaboration, David Zwirner Gallery will present a solo exhibition by the artist at its New York space in Chelsea. The gallery will work in partnership with Nara’s international agent, Joe Baptista of Equivalence Art Agency, while Pace Gallery will continue its relationship with the artist.
