Yoshitomo Nara
Draws one child, alone, faintly hostile, and has done for thirty-five years.
Yoshitomo Nara was born in Hirosaki in northern Japan in 1959, a latchkey child in a rural prefecture, and spent twelve years in Germany studying and working in Dusseldorf before returning to Japan in 2000. Almost everything is one figure: a small girl, sometimes a dog, alone against an empty ground, with an expression that is never quite readable — sulking, defiant, or holding a knife. The sources are as much punk and folk records as they are painting. The Fukushima earthquake in 2011 stopped him working for months and changed the tone of what came afterwards.
One of the largest markets in contemporary Asian art, set principally in Hong Kong, and one of the most counterfeited. Unique paintings on canvas lead by a great distance. Beneath them sit drawings, of which there are many, often on envelopes, cardboard or found paper; ceramics and sculpture; and a very large output of offset and silkscreen editions, plus licensed product, figures and books. The offset editions in particular are frequently sold as though they were prints of consequence. Certificates and provenance to a documented gallery source are essential.
If you own a work by Yoshitomo Nara
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