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拍品专文
The Girl With the Knife is the poster child for Yoshitomo Nara's beloved mischievous and frequently misunderstood youth. Executed in 1993, she stands as a crucial early cornerstone defining the thematic structure of the artist's subsequent mature work. Adorable, angry, innocent yet pranksterish, she wields her power with her gigantic blue eyes, blond hair and knife clutched at her side. The emotional content and spiritual effect of Nara's art has a strong affinity with contemporary culture, particularly the genre of Punk music:
"Nara's resolve to live his life on his own terms and never let go of his independence shaped his motto to "never forget the beginner's spirit." At the root of this is the "do-it-yourself" spirit of punk culture. Many works from Nara's earliest to most recent years contain direct references to his favorite musicians and/or song lyrics-testament to the fact that music has always been playing in his studio, in his mind, and often in his installation works" (Yoshitomo Nara Nobody's Fool, exh. cat., New York, 2010, p. 111).
The youthful spirit of rebellion is personified in the present sculpture, executed with staples and strips of plastic. Though constructed to appear haphazard in a manner of all things Punk-one can imagine Nara ripping off the top of a former doll to enlarge the present girl's head-the artist pays particular attention to small details, such as the polka dots carefully rendered on the underwear beneath her skirt, lifted up and exposed for the world to see in a gesture of defiance and independence. Isolation, uneasiness in connecting with the outside world, awkwardness and the complicated space between youth and adolescence are major themes in Nara's work and subject matter traditionally brushed under the rug in Japanese society.
"The children in my works are not aggressive. With the knives, the kids can generate power over their lives. I'm not making art to give the viewer hope. I'm articulating or producing a scream for them. Kurt Cobain was not making songs to give hope, he was simply articulating that generation's scream. I'm expressing current conditions. The audience in Japan doesn't see my work as 'ooh it's so cute,'--it's more 'I get it, I understand it.' They say 'I know this child' or 'I was this child'" (Y. Nara, from 1998 interview held in conjunction with a show he participated at the University of Wisconsin; https://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyoevents/386/tokyoeventsinc.htm).
Though Nara's scream is specific and individual, The Girl with the Knife addresses a universal "scream" of alienation and rebellion that can be heard across generations and cultures. His is a link in a tradition of past artists, musicians and poets throughout history such as Kurt Cobain, "The Sex Pistols," Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, William Burroughs and Allan Ginsburgh, Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch to Caravaggio and Bosch.
"Nara's resolve to live his life on his own terms and never let go of his independence shaped his motto to "never forget the beginner's spirit." At the root of this is the "do-it-yourself" spirit of punk culture. Many works from Nara's earliest to most recent years contain direct references to his favorite musicians and/or song lyrics-testament to the fact that music has always been playing in his studio, in his mind, and often in his installation works" (Yoshitomo Nara Nobody's Fool, exh. cat., New York, 2010, p. 111).
The youthful spirit of rebellion is personified in the present sculpture, executed with staples and strips of plastic. Though constructed to appear haphazard in a manner of all things Punk-one can imagine Nara ripping off the top of a former doll to enlarge the present girl's head-the artist pays particular attention to small details, such as the polka dots carefully rendered on the underwear beneath her skirt, lifted up and exposed for the world to see in a gesture of defiance and independence. Isolation, uneasiness in connecting with the outside world, awkwardness and the complicated space between youth and adolescence are major themes in Nara's work and subject matter traditionally brushed under the rug in Japanese society.
"The children in my works are not aggressive. With the knives, the kids can generate power over their lives. I'm not making art to give the viewer hope. I'm articulating or producing a scream for them. Kurt Cobain was not making songs to give hope, he was simply articulating that generation's scream. I'm expressing current conditions. The audience in Japan doesn't see my work as 'ooh it's so cute,'--it's more 'I get it, I understand it.' They say 'I know this child' or 'I was this child'" (Y. Nara, from 1998 interview held in conjunction with a show he participated at the University of Wisconsin; https://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyoevents/386/tokyoeventsinc.htm).
Though Nara's scream is specific and individual, The Girl with the Knife addresses a universal "scream" of alienation and rebellion that can be heard across generations and cultures. His is a link in a tradition of past artists, musicians and poets throughout history such as Kurt Cobain, "The Sex Pistols," Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, William Burroughs and Allan Ginsburgh, Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch to Caravaggio and Bosch.