Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara presents his second solo exhibition in France and his first in over fifteen years. Nara is internationally renowned for his distinctive paintings, sculptures, and drawings of single figures. While this imagery is rooted in Japanese popular culture, Nara's approach reveals a deep connection with the process of making. His paintings are expressions of colour that breathe life into his bold images, his sculptures bear traces of his fingers that have shaped their forms, and his drawings capture the spontaneity of his daily thoughts.
Nara has been prolific in his output over the past thirty years, but regardless of the choice of media his artworks are all consistently a portrayal of himself. While many of Nara's contemporaries make their work with an audience in mind, he typically creates his works in a more personal mode; they originate from a struggle to express the self. The figures portrayed in his paintings are born out of his deep introspection and his layering and erasure of colors on the canvas; only the most sincere elements are allowed to remain. Likewise, Nara's unfiltered thoughts and feelings are vividly ingrained in the rhythm and vigor of the figures and words depicted in his drawings on notepaper and used envelopes.
Yoshitomo Nara's numerous solo exhibitions include For Better or Worse: Works 1987-2017, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, Japan (2017); Life is Only One: Yoshitomo Nara, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong, China (2015); Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA (2014); NARA Yoshitomo: a bit like you and me..., Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan, traveled to Aomori Museum of Art, Aomori, Japan and Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan (2012); The Crated Rooms in Iceland: Yoshitomo Nara + YNG, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland (2009); Yoshitomo Nara + graf, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2008); Yoshitomo Nara + graf, Museum of Contemporary Art, Den Haag, Netherlands (2007); From the Depth of My Drawer, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, traveling exhibition (2004); Nothing Ever Happens, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, traveling exhibition (2003); and I Don't Mind, If You Forget Me, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan, traveling exhibition (2001).