ILLUSTRATED
Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete Works Volume 2, Chronicle Books LLC,San Francisco, 2011, color illustrated, p. 178, no. D-2001-151

Yoshimoto Nara is an internationally renowned artist from Japan, whose work is often presented in a cartoon style, with bright-eyed children being the recurring motif. Nara often publicly expresses that he acquires inspiration from art books for children and the old records his listened to during his adolescence. He once commented that he painted with what he actually felt, and all the reason and meanings ensued afterwards.

Although his works often find a base in “otaku” aesthetics, the simple lines and flat composition often cause his work to be classified as “Superflat.” However, the artist has strongly rejected the definition as a careless appraisal of his art style. In terms of form and expression, Nara’s techniques do indeed seem similar to the Superflat artists, but unlike in their works, the subjects of Nara’s works never revolve around criticizing the superficiality of current Japanese society, its traditions, art, or culture. Instead he focuses on painting what is important to him, and pursuing a naked yet true self. Another element that has influenced Nara’s work is Ukiyo-e, an art form from 17th-century Japan which depicts the daily lives, scenery, and theater of the time. The works of artists such as: Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Hiroshige often appear in Nara’s paintings.

These real-life feelings of loneliness and detachment that his works display also reflect the indifferent present in Japan’s cities and the “otaku” way of life. He depicts these lonely figures as reflection to his inner soliloquy, which just so happen to echo the dilemma of that generation and the confusion of their souls. Like many self-portraits, Nara’s creations betray an uncompromising spirit and a strong defiance of the outside world. They are pictures of those who have been lost and lonely. While the artist contends with the world by pursuing his true inner self through art, he also communicates with the world, exhibiting the energy of his existence through art, and soothing the wounds of the lonely. This work presents one of Yoshitomo Nara’s most representative of figures. With a face covered in sweat and head extended by a chimney top smoking white, it symbolizes the artist's, or the everyday man's, stubborn resistance to the world's backbreaking weight. Or perhaps it is a misunderstanding of the outside world, constantly caring about where the eyes of society are actually pointed. Through an art practice that involves simple, amusing paintings, Nara has found a way to depict the dilemma and embarrassment of generations of people, speaking to that experience with a relaxed posture: Well, beyond emptiness, it's a free life!