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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1991; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Links Rum, 1999
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1991; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Links Rum, 1999
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1991; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Links Rum, 1999
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Links Rum, 1999; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; There is No Place Like Home, 1995; Untitled, 1989-1993
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; Untitled, 1989-1993; There is No Place Like Home, 1995; Untitled, 1989-1993
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993; There is No Place Like Home, 1995; Untitled, 1989-1993
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen on paper, 5.98 x 8.5 in (15.2 x 21.6 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1991, Pen and colored pencil on paper, 8.07 x 4.13 in (20 x 10.5 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen and acrylic on paper, 8.5 x 5.98 in (21.6 x 15.2 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen, colored pencil and acrylic on paper, 8.62 x 5.7 in (21.9 x 14.5 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Acrylic on paper, 9.25 x 6.1 in (23.5 x 15.5 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Acrylic on paper, 8.62 x 5.7 in (21.9 x 14.5 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Acrylic on paper, 6.29 x 9.13 in (16 x 23.2 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen and acrylic on paper, 8.5 x 5.98 in (21.6 x 15.2 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen and colored pencil on paper, 8.62 x 5.7 in (21.9 x 14.5 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Acrylic on paper, 6.14 x 9.45 in (15.6 x 24 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1989-1993, Pen and colored pencil on paper, 6.14 x 8.62 in (15.6 x 21.9 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, There is No Place Like Home, 1995, Acrylic on canvas, 16.25 x 19.75 in (42 x 50 cm)
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Yoshitomo Nara, Links Rum, 1999, Acrylic on canvas, 19.5 x 19.5 (50 x 50 cm)
YOSHITOMO NARA: A SELECTION OF 90'S PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER
Stockholm: February 20 - March 27th, 2014
Press Release:
McCabe Fine Art is pleased to present a selection of early works by Yoshimoto Nara. Influenced by both Japanese manga and American comic books, Nara is best known for his cartoonish paintings and sculptures of children and dogs. In addition to revealing primitive versions of several of these now-iconic characters—including devilish babies, floppy-eared puppies, and lonely children—the eleven drawings and two paintings brought together here, show Nara working in a surprising loose and raw style. Dating primarily from student days at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf (1989-1993), these works describe an important nascent stage in Nara’s artistic development.
More energetic and spontaneous than his mature work, Nara's early drawings are also more overtly narrative. Featuring colorful combinations of acrylic, pen, and colored pencil, the drawings often combine multiple figures, text, and scenic elements within a single composition. Scenes such as a man swimming, airplanes flying above a city, and a boy visiting several dogs, are annotated with roughly scrawled captions or thought bubbles. Rendered unceremoniously and economically (frequently on sheets of lined notebook paper), these deceptively childlike renderings represent the unfiltered reflections of an artist on the brink of establishing his mature style. As proof, two paintings made just a few years after the drawings (There Is No Place Like Home, 1995, and Links Rum, 1999), show Nara already moving towards the stark compositions focused on individual characters with few or no narrative clues that characterize his later, much celebrated, works. The sleepy-eyed white dog in Links Rum is a particularly important harbinger of what has become one of Nara’s most important signature characters.
MCCABE FINE ART
Noted art advisor, dealer and collector, Paul Frank McCabe, opened McCabe Fine Art in Stockholm, Sweden in 2013. An extension of his eighteen years of art market experience and connoisseurship, the beautifully renovated showroom in central Östermalm presents works by modern and contemporary masters as well as emerging talents. Through a program of curated, thematic and monographic exhibitions, McCabe Fine Art brings new voices to Scandinavia’s dynamic international art scene.
For more information, please contact us at paul@mccabefineart.com or +46 (0)709 99 77 46.