Lot Essay
Yoshitomo Nara's Crated Room #3 is a unique installation that whimsically illustrates his signature spirit of youthful rebellion. Five pilgrim figures are presented inside a crate through which viewers look in, offering the viewer with a different kind of viewing experience. As Nara himself once said: 'Rather than merely offering the work for the viewers to see face-on, I want to trigger their imaginations. This way, each individual can see my work with his or her own unique, imaginative mind. People with very imaginative minds perhaps sees more than I can' (The artist quoted in M. Chiu, 'A Conversation with the Artist', in Yoshitomo Nara Nobody's Fool, exh. cat., New York, Asia Society Museum, 2011, p. 179). The present lot instantly bears Nara's stamp of sense of humour and irony in his cross-disciplinary practice. Inviting the viewer to navigate around the work, the constructed environment found in Crated Room #3 is an intimate yet impressive environment in which the artist conjures his fantastic universe.