1353
YOSHITOMO NARA
YOSHITOMO NARA

细节
YOSHITOMO NARA
(B. 1959)
It's Rain
signed with artist's signature; dated '95' (lower right); titled 'it's rain' in English (lower left)
mixed media on paper
64.8 x 49.5 cm. (25 1/2 x 19 1/3 in.)
Painted in 1995
来源
Sotheby's London, 8 February 2007, Lot 331
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

拍品专文

Nara explores the depth of the unconsciousness and the intensity of inner quarrel towards the modern world but enclosed in sweet pale palettes, blissful colors and rather light hearted caricature of children. With time, viewers surpass its delightful exterior and are presented with an unexpected confession of psychological tension, anxiety and resentment, where different and conflicting emotions of Nara's children can be felt.

Painted in a fluid single brushstroke, the raw immediacy and dynamic energy breed from Untitled (Man on Fish) (Lot 1355) whilst metaphorically uniting the fish and the man in companion. Nara instills humorous visuals, incoherent with each other to embed dream-like or street quality to his works with his seemingly graffiti-like sketchy or moreover doodle-like painting, verging on a possible balance between quick illustrations of a heroic tale from his short day-dream or a mere pictorial inspiration from a children's book; hence the overall aesthetic lucratively bestowing an utopian sentiment. Nara often channels his feeling of solitude through means of children and animals but in Peacock the Ambassador (Lot 1354), an anthropomorphic character of a child and peacock is created with extravagant plumage unfolded in dynamic web virtually engulfing the child. Deciphering the cues of the titles, the nonchalant hybrid of the two becomes clear; a democratic vision of Nara and his will for peace, visually assembled in maximum effect with a peacock that culturally symbolize nurture love and vigilance, blended with the innocence of a child. It's Rain (Lot 1353) exhibits a different temper; the child is holding a flower that is intended to shelter her from rain, but instead is reversely betrayed by it. Clearly discontent with the situation, the inner condition of her puzzlement is uttered in the brash and raw virtuoso brushstrokes of white acrylic, unexpectedly dry in texture despite the weather of the event. Nara merges figurative and abstract idioms to create an art that is emotionally charged with backgrounds determinedly isolated and vacant as a conundrum for the mood for the painting.