Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara was born in 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. He received his BFA (1985) and MFA (1987) from Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, Nagakute, Japan. From 1988 to 1993, Nara was enrolled at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany, where he was taught by German neo-expressionist painter A. R. Penck. Nara has served as a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles (1998), École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2003), and Musashino Art University, Tokyo (2006).

Nara has been the subject of solo exhibitions globally since the late 1980s. His first institutional solo presentation, Cup Kids, was held in 1995 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya, Japan. In 1998, the Institute of Visual Arts at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, presented Nara’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Further significant solo exhibitions of Nara’s work include Walk On, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2000); Lullaby Supermarket, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2000); and I DON’T MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME., Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa (2001).

In 2003, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland opened Nothing Ever Happens, a major US traveling exhibition. The presentation was subsequently on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; San Jose Museum of Art, California; Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri; and Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, through Spring 2005. From the Depth of My Drawer, a comprehensive exhibition, including over 200 of the artist’s works, traveled to venues in Japan, and to South Korea, from Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2004–2005).

From 2003 to 2008, Nara presented a series of exhibitions in collaboration with Osaka-based creative design studio graf, including at Yoshii Brick Brew House, Hirosaki (2006); GEM Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hague (2007); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2007); and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK. Additional solo exhibitions were held at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2006); Asia Society Museum, New York (2010); Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa (2012); and Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan (2017).

In 2021, to mark the tenth anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a special exhibition of work by Nara was organized by the General Association of Chinese Culture, traveling to three venues in Taiwan—Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; and Tainan Art Museum. A retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work was presented at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2021, before traveling to Yuz Museum, Shanghai, the following year. In 2023, Nara was given his first solo exhibition in Australia, Reach Out to The Moon, Even If We Can’t, at The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, and a large-scale retrospective, The Beginning Place, was held at Aomori Museum of Art, Japan. In Europe, All My Little Words opened at Albertina Modern, Vienna (2023), and a major solo exhibition traveled from Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; to Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany; and Hayward Gallery, London (2024–2025).

In 2018, Nara opened N’s Yard in Nasushiobara, Japan, a private exhibition space and garden where his work is continuously on display, alongside exhibitions of work by other contemporary artists.

Nara has received prestigious awards and prizes including Nagoya City Art Encouragement Prize (1995); New York International Center Prize for Excellence in the Arts (2010); Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Encouragement Prize, Japan (2013); and amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS (2021).

Work by Nara is held in significant institutions worldwide, including Aomori Museum of Art, Japan; Art Institute of Chicago; The British Museum, London; Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art; Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Long Museum, Shanghai; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Museum of Art, Osaka; Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; Rubell Museum, New York and Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Japan.