Expanding upon previous iterations at the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Museum Frieder Burda, Nara\u2019s oeuvre comes together here to weave an emphatic narrative of self, tracing his evolution from a youthful rebel to Japan\u2019s most expensive artist (his painting \u2018Knife Behind Back\u2019\u00a0sold for a record $25 million at a 2019 Sotheby\u2019s auction). On display are his instantly recognisable big-eyed characters \u2013 wielding knives, puffing cigarettes and setting houses aflame. These sit alongside early neo-expressionist works made during his time as a student in Germany, and darker, more introspective pieces that emerged in the wake of the 2011 T\u014dhokuearthquake. For Nara, they all exist in tandem with each other: \u201cWhatever combination of my art that you see, it\u2019s me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is reflected in his willingness to mine his memories for inspiration. Growing up in the rural north of Honshu, Japan\u2019s largest island, Nara spent his youth listening to the US Army\u2019s Far East Network. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand English at the time, but I loved the melodies, the rhythms and the feel of rock and folk music,\u201d he says. At ten, he started collecting records \u2013 their evocative picture sleeves acting as portals to another realm, through which he could imagine and create \u201cmusic videos\u201d in his mind. Although Nara later gained a formal education at Aichi University of the Arts and Kunstakademie D\u00fcsseldorf, it was these serendipitous encounters with art that served as his earliest \u201cteachers\u201d. They granted him the freedom to develop a visual language rooted first and foremost in play.<\/p>\n
That Nara continues to be in touch with his inner child is evident throughout the exhibition. Works are organised thematically rather than chronologically, canvases are hung at comically varying heights and oversized installations are placed next to tiny paintings. \u201cI wanted to recreate an old-school Japanese sweet shop!\u201d he says. By demanding that we either come up close or crane our necks, he thrusts us into the curious, meandering and at times nonsensical perspective of a child. \u201cI started doing this in 1984 when everyone was exhibiting their paintings in horizontal lines. Since then, I\u2019ve been trying to improve on this idea.\u201d Even after decades in the spotlight of the art world (and a particularly buzzy Instagram presence), the 65-year-old remains unfazed by rules or convention \u2013 doing only as he has always done.<\/p>\n Not merely a gimmick, Nara\u2019s deeply personal sentiments are central to his practice. Describing his works as \u201cself-portraits\u201d, his characters appear in solitude \u2013 their murky expressions and curious stances hinting at a deep-seated consciousness well beyond their cherubic years. As the Japanese artist recalls his own latchkey upbringing, it\u2019s clear that this is a state he knows all too well. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a concept of loneliness back then,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when I got older and met other kids, that was fun, and I started to forget about my first friend: solitude. Later, I felt sorry for it, so [through my art] I wanted to say, \u2018I haven\u2019t forgotten about you, I\u2019m still with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While most of us prefer to look away, Nara seeks to honour his past self. \u201cWhat\u2019s important to me is not \u2018growing\u2019 as an artist,\u201d he says. \u201cBut whether I can get back to where I started \u2013 like a child. And then get back to where I am now and move on.\u201d In \u2018My Drawing Room\u2019 (2008) Marianne Faithfull\u2019s voice echoes from a house-like installation: \u201cI sit and watch the children play \/ Doing things I used to do \/ They think are new \/ I sit and watch as tears go by.\u201d Furnished with nostalgic knick-knacks, scribbled-on paper and a 130-minute accompanying playlist, Nara explains that \u201cthis is [my] childhood dream come true\u2026 it\u2019s the house [I] always wanted to live in when [I] grew up.\u201d Looking through the windows, there\u2019s something quietly moving about this reconciliation, this folding-in of time \u2013 as memory becomes material, and desire becomes form.<\/p>\n What\u2019s important to me is not \u2018growing\u2019 as an artist… but whether I can get back to where I started \u2013 like a child<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Unlike Faithfull, Nara is not content to simply sit and watch. \u201cI enjoy playing with children,\u201d he tells us. \u201cOr maybe it\u2019s more that they like me and want to play with me.\u201d Pure, unfiltered and instinctive in their approach to the world, he explains that children offer a lens from which he can \u201clearn about the emotional and mental aspects of human existence\u201d. His grey-streaked hair may betray his age, but his spirit is unmistakably youthful (no more so than when he shows us the 1000-something photos of cats in his camera roll). \u201cMy friends\u2019 children ask, \u2018Is Nara grown up or is he a child?\u2019 I find that so funny because I feel like I can genuinely become the child I once was. But then I\u2019ll see a reflection of myself as this weird, old man and think, \u2018Who\u2019s that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n On the surface, this may come across as a Peter Pan streak of na\u00efvet\u00e9. But spending time in the presence of Nara\u2019s works \u2013 from the mischievous wink in \u2018Black-Eyed Cat\u2019(2003) to the innocent clutch of a flower in \u2018Pink Water\u2019(2020) \u2013 reveals something more: a radical commitment to earnestness. If age typically begets cynicism, he holds on to the opposing belief that something true, something beautiful is still possible. As his Instagram bio reads, \u201cNO WAR! NO NUKES! LOVE & PEACE!\u201d \u2013 a statement not just of his refusal to believe the worst of us, but of his determination to see the best in us. <\/p>\n With the Hayward Gallery marking the final stop of his touring retrospective, where does Nara go from here? Trying to answer that question would prove futile, because, well, the artist himself doesn\u2019t seem to know. A born improviser, he insists that he never plans or thinks when he creates, allowing instead for the work to come to him \u201corganically\u201d. In our increasingly uncertain age, perhaps we should make like Nara \u2013 go forth with open minds and see what happens. After all, \u201ceverything is hindsight, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n Yoshitomo Nara<\/a> is on show at Hayward Gallery until August 31.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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Yoshitomo Nara, Missing in Action (1999)Courtesy of Sally and Ralph Tawil and Yoshitomo Nara Foundation, \u00a9 Yoshitomo Nara<\/p>\n<\/a>
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After the Acid Rain (2006) Acrylic on canvas, 227 x 182cmCourtesy of the artist and private collection<\/p>\n\n
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Yoshitomo Nara, One Foot in the Groove (2012)Courtesy Private collection, \u00a9 Yoshitomo Nara, courtesy Yoshitomo Nara Foundation<\/p>\n