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拍品專文
Yoshitomo Nara works echo a complex concoction of idealism, vulnerability, and rebellion than resonates with our modern world on a universal level. Nagoya Girl I (Lot 42) captures the contemporary zeitgeist and collective anxiety of the Japanese youth. A fiendish young girl with the representative Nagoya curl appears alone, set against muted, ambiguous background. The lustrous outlines, pristine surfaces, ethereal hues, and truncated compositional structures adhere to the shallow-spaced, almost flat Japanese ukiyo-e painting traditions (Fig. 1). Sublime aesthetic sensibility with bold distortion, accumulation of heterogeneous elements and extraordinarily fine-honed line drawings are evocative of the works of picture book illustrator Takeshi Motai, who combined traditional aesthetic with a keen knowledge of European modernism in illustrations with which Nara particularly identifies. Astonishing parallels can be found in idealized beauty in delicate feature of early Renaissance art. The high-arched forehead, marble complexion, and luminous palette create a mood of sumptuous opulence that is reminiscent of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of a Young Woman (Fig. 2). Construction of a sense of Cubist spatial depth and distortion of the human body allude to Pablo Picasso's Seated Woman (Marie-Therese).
EVERYONE HAS A PANDORA'S BOX
The present work stays true to Nara's distinct style save for one glaring difference: her budding breasts signal her transitioning from girl to woman. Nara's lonely androgynous child is growing up. But as her body transforms, so do her concerns and anxieties. During puberty, a girl becomes more aware of her body and its effect on others. Heightened self-consciousness about her appearance and behaviour prompts her to mimic the women she sees in fashion magazines and in movies. Nagoya Girl I's heavily teased hair, low-cut shirt and makeup suggest newly acquired beauty rituals put into practice in an attempt to look more adult-like. Instead, her ridiculously high pouf and long, spidery eyelashes come across as garish. Her aping is but a mere extension of the dress-up games she used to play as a little girl. Yet, such small examples illustrate the profundity and latitude of a problem in societies: children are growing up too fast, too soon, and their innocence is taken away by the erosion of childhood. Most high achievers and Asian parents find it difficult to accept a less-than-stellar performance from their children. A combination of early testing in school, extracurricular activities, and endless tutorials create tremendous pressure for children to 'be mature' and to 'grow up', while the chance to develop emotional maturity is lacking. Children who are hurried out of childhood miss out on a lot of the simple pleasures of being a child- to relate to peers, to be part of a family and to play. These experiences offer us a Pandora's box of memories that we can fall back on when we are adults.
The emotional content and spiritual weight of Nara's art look to childhood memories for the causes of present loneliness, and construction of an emotional totality. For Sigmund Freud, representation is based upon a dialectic between presence and absence - whereas presence is always the touchstone by which absence is gauges. Unlike conscious memories from the time of maturity, childhood memories are only elicited at a later age when childhood is already past. "The older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the few joys of childhood are the best that life has to give." 20th century novelist Ellen Glasgow said. Children expressed as idiosyncratic characters through daring simplification - a privilege that adults do not have. Nara's art arouse the imminence of children's spirits that grownup had long forgotten. It gives them the strength to confront their own solitude and to embrace life as a journey.
Yoshitomo Nara's preoccupation with minshu (the people) transcends universal humanity. As 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche puts, "Art is above and before all supposed to beautify life, thus makes us ourselves endurable, if possible pleasing to others." Nara provides a voice that reaches and touches ones soul, in his own sentiments and significant emotive depth that retain a deep love for ordinary life.
EVERYONE HAS A PANDORA'S BOX
The present work stays true to Nara's distinct style save for one glaring difference: her budding breasts signal her transitioning from girl to woman. Nara's lonely androgynous child is growing up. But as her body transforms, so do her concerns and anxieties. During puberty, a girl becomes more aware of her body and its effect on others. Heightened self-consciousness about her appearance and behaviour prompts her to mimic the women she sees in fashion magazines and in movies. Nagoya Girl I's heavily teased hair, low-cut shirt and makeup suggest newly acquired beauty rituals put into practice in an attempt to look more adult-like. Instead, her ridiculously high pouf and long, spidery eyelashes come across as garish. Her aping is but a mere extension of the dress-up games she used to play as a little girl. Yet, such small examples illustrate the profundity and latitude of a problem in societies: children are growing up too fast, too soon, and their innocence is taken away by the erosion of childhood. Most high achievers and Asian parents find it difficult to accept a less-than-stellar performance from their children. A combination of early testing in school, extracurricular activities, and endless tutorials create tremendous pressure for children to 'be mature' and to 'grow up', while the chance to develop emotional maturity is lacking. Children who are hurried out of childhood miss out on a lot of the simple pleasures of being a child- to relate to peers, to be part of a family and to play. These experiences offer us a Pandora's box of memories that we can fall back on when we are adults.
The emotional content and spiritual weight of Nara's art look to childhood memories for the causes of present loneliness, and construction of an emotional totality. For Sigmund Freud, representation is based upon a dialectic between presence and absence - whereas presence is always the touchstone by which absence is gauges. Unlike conscious memories from the time of maturity, childhood memories are only elicited at a later age when childhood is already past. "The older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the few joys of childhood are the best that life has to give." 20th century novelist Ellen Glasgow said. Children expressed as idiosyncratic characters through daring simplification - a privilege that adults do not have. Nara's art arouse the imminence of children's spirits that grownup had long forgotten. It gives them the strength to confront their own solitude and to embrace life as a journey.
Yoshitomo Nara's preoccupation with minshu (the people) transcends universal humanity. As 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche puts, "Art is above and before all supposed to beautify life, thus makes us ourselves endurable, if possible pleasing to others." Nara provides a voice that reaches and touches ones soul, in his own sentiments and significant emotive depth that retain a deep love for ordinary life.