Reporter | Xu Luqing
Edit | Yellow Moon
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Although this exhibition is nara's first solo exhibition in Chinese mainland, Nara's image of a rebellious, eccentric and cute little girl has long been familiar to many Chinese audiences. The image of a little girl is often associated with "healing" and "cuteness", however, Nara Yoshitomo does not just want to use cartoon characters to express his inner loneliness and sensitivity, his creations have long revolved around social issues such as anti-war and anti-nuclear, and closely follow current events, whether it is the 3.11 earthquake in Japan or the current new crown pandemic, which is the inspiration and theme of his creation.
From an early age, Yoshitomo Nara felt that she was close to the war and established a distinct anti-war attitude. His hometown of Aomori Prefecture is close to the 8th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, so he grew up next to a military base and often played in an abandoned ammunition depot as a child. During World War II, the U.S. Allies converted the Army territory near his home into Misawa Air Base, which has been supporting U.S. war operations in Vietnam.
Living near the U.S. military base allowed Nara to listen to American radio programs as a teenager, including pop rock and folk, and the works of musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Neil Young deeply influenced his later compositions, saying, "I was nurtured by civil rights protest songs and anti-war rock songs." Seeing military operations near places of life also made the war scenes on TV and newspapers more deeply imprinted in his mind, "The Vietnam War didn't feel like it was happening in a distant land, because U.S. troops were sent from Japanese military bases." ”
Manuscripts of Nara Yoshitomo paintings exhibited at the Yuz Museum of Art often feature anti-war signs
In 1988, at the age of 28, Yoshitomo Nara went to the Düsseldorf Art Academy in Germany to study, he explored a delicate and sensitive painting style in Germany, and also met the painter Pengke, who was later called a mentor, Pengke was famous for his reflections on the situation in post-war Germany, and also influenced the reflection of the entire German society on World War II. After the 9/11 incident, the United States launched the Afghan war in the name of "fighting terrorism", and Nara Yoshitomo was invited by Japanese photographer Ryuko Kawauchi to go to the battlefield in Afghanistan. According to Yoshitomo Nara, "In a remote and safe country, it seems that opposing war is not convincing." Maybe you can't do anything, so let's go! His photography and painting of Afghan life and daily life led him to focus on topics such as global politics and colonial history.
Photographs taken by Yoshitomo Nara in Afghanistan (Image: Yoshitomo Nara: Beginnings in an Empty World)
In addition to anti-war, anti-nuclear is also an important theme in Nara's creation. The 2011 Japan earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear leak triggered by it were the turning point of his work, which occurred only 70 kilometers from Nara's studio. After the disaster, he once fell into a creative bottleneck, questioning "After the disaster, who needs art?" ”。 And his paintings had an impact in subsequent political action — images of little girls holding "No Nukes" appeared frequently in anti-nuclear demonstrations across Japan after the earthquake. Yoshitomo Nara was pleased with this and thought it would be much more meaningful to have his work appear in the parade than to hang it high in the art museum.
Yoshitomo Nara's little girl holding No Nukes (Image: Yoshitomo Nara: Beginnings in an Empty World)
Anti-nuclear painting "Nuclear Baby" (Image: Yoshitomo Nara: Beginnings in an Empty World)
"Sudden Event" depicts a girl injured after the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan
After the great earthquake in Japan, Yoshitomo Nara returned to his alma mater, Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, as an artist-in-residence, "I didn't want to paint at all. After the earthquake, I focused on thinking about what I could do—not as an art writer, but as a human being, what could I do? Since then, he has participated in the "Arata Rock Festival" held in Miyagi Prefecture every year in Connection with the Great Earthquake in Japan, and has also begun to explore the creation of sculpture forms, and in his solo exhibition "Some Similarities with You and Me" in 2012, he first challenged the creation of large bronze sculptures. This is the first exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and he hopes to use stronger materials while creating with his hands and creating a relationship with the land.
"The Head of Peace" (Image: YOSHITOMO NARA)
Anti-war words on the back of the sculpture
In 2017-2019, Yoshitomo Nara created a series of "billboard" paintings that still focus on anti-war and anti-nuclear issues. In the painting "Girl of Peace", the girl steps on Hitler's head and has an evil and terrible expression on her face, which is Nara's question to Peace: Is it feasible to overthrow violence with violence? Is it possible for violence to be "justified"? He said, "Standing on the back of the most notorious dictator of the twentieth century, why does the Girl of Peace look malicious on her face?" The more you think about how peace is formed, the more complex it seems to become. ”
The Girl of Peace
Yoshitomo Nara often interacts with fans on the social network Twitter. A few days ago, he posted a painting of an anti-war girl standing on the grass with an angry barefoot figure and a large "STOP THE BOMBS" written on the background board, inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, expressing Nara's support for peace.
Yoshitomo Nara's Twitter painting released on February 28 (Image: Twitter)