Yoshitomo Nara was born on January 4, 1959 in Hirosaki, Japan. He is a Japanese artist who works in a style of manga and anime. His style is clearly influenced from his past. He grew up in post-World War II, which was when Japan was experiencing western pop culture. The viewer can see how anime and punk rock influenced Nara’s artwork because of the time period he grew up in. Currently, Nara lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. But his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received the 1985 B.F.A. and the 1987 M.F.A. from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany for six years. Nara has had about 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. Nara’s art usually shows innocent children with little background that at first glance appear to be cute, but then with a deeper look the viewer can see that they are holding weapons or other evil objects and their facial expressions are full of hatred and acquisition. This shows the evil the world has pushed on innocent children, which may be a reaction to Japan’s rigid social conventions.
The style I did my homage in was influenced by Yositomo Nara. I used light conte pastels to draw a young cartoonish girl with an angry expression and bunny ears and a bunny tail. The bunny ears and tail show the innocence of the young girl and how little girls like to play dress up. The angry expression on her face shows what the world has done to her. She appears to be evil because the society she lives in has made her that way.
2001, sculpture
1998, pastels
- 2010,print
Things that inspire me:
