Yoshitomo Nara's paintings of solitary, sharp-eyed children look like album art. That's not a coincidence. Nara has spent decades writing liner notes for the folk and rock records he collects, and the same restraint shows up in both places.
Yoshitomo Nara, published by DelMonico Books with LACMA, is the book that finally puts both sides of his practice in one volume.
Who is Yoshitomo Nara?
A Japanese painter and sculptor best known for a recurring cast of children: wide-eyed, often alone, rendered with a flatness and simplicity that reads as childlike until you notice the expression. This book, published for his Los Angeles County Museum of Art retrospective, spans 1985 to 2020: thirty-five years of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and ceramic figures.
What does the book actually cover?
Beyond the paintings, it includes previously unexhibited idea sketches, which are the working notes behind the finished work, and reads Nara's whole practice as something closer to a diary than a body of work with a fixed subject. Edited by Mika Yoshitake, with texts by LACMA director Michael Govan and by Nara himself.
Why does the book include his liner notes?
Nara keeps a personal collection of 1960s and '70s folk and rock records, and has written liner notes for reissues drawn from it, text that, until this book, existed only in Japanese. Published here in English for the first time, the notes work as a second commentary track: the same sensibility that picks a record's sleeve is picking the color of a child's eyes.
How did his work change over 35 years?
The early work is sharper: kids with knives, cigarettes, unimpressed expressions, closer to punk flyer than gallery painting. The retrospective's long view shows a gradual softening. The same children get older with him: still solitary, but more contemplative, less confrontational, closer to portraiture than provocation.
The record-collecting instinct behind that punk-flyer edge belongs to the same impulse that fills secondhand racks. Read our note on what makes clothing genuinely vintage for more on dedication instead of nostalgia.
For two more artists with new museum books on the shelf: Takashi Murakami's case for Superflat, and how Hayao Miyazaki's films actually get made.
The book
- Hardcover, 224 pages
- 9 × 11.9 in
- Color throughout
- DelMonico Books with LACMA, 2021
- ISBN 9781636810294
Find Yoshitomo Nara in the KNOWLEDGE collection.
Frequently asked questions
What time period does the book cover?
1985 to 2020, spanning thirty-five years of Nara's work.
Is this only paintings?
No. It includes drawings, sculpture, ceramic figures, and previously unexhibited idea sketches alongside the paintings.
Why does a painting book include liner notes?
Nara has written liner notes for reissues from his own collection of 1960s and '70s folk and rock records. This book publishes them in English for the first time, next to the artwork they sit beside in his practice.
Who edited it?
Mika Yoshitake, with texts by LACMA director Michael Govan and by Nara himself.
Where was the retrospective held?
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
sabi is an online boutique based in Portland, Oregon. Our KNOWLEDGE collection is the reference shelf, books on the things we sell and the ideas underneath them.