Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959) is renowned for his distinctive body of work—encompassing drawing, painting, sculpture, and architectural installations—that continues to resonate with a global audience, across borders and generations.

Nara was born in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. He received his BFA (1985) and MFA (1987) from Aichi University of the Arts, Nagakute, Japan. From 1988 to 1993, Nara was enrolled at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was taught by German neo-expressionist painter A. R. Penck. Nara has served as a visiting professor at the 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 mid-1980s. His first institutional solo presentation, Cup Kids, was held in 1995 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya, in Aichi, Japan. In 1998, the Institute of Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, presented the 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, Japan (2001).

In 2003, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland opened Nothing Ever Happens, a major traveling exhibition in the United States. 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. In 2004–2005, From the Depth of My Drawer, a comprehensive exhibition including over 200 of the artist’s works, traveled to venues in Japan and South Korea following its initial presentation at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

From 2003 to 2008, Nara presented a series of exhibitions in collaboration with Osaka-based creative design studio graf at venues across the globe, including Yoshii Brick Brew House, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan (2006); GEM Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hague (2007); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2007); and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom (2008). Additional solo exhibitions were held at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan (2006); Asia Society Museum, New York (2010); Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan (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 the Guggenheim Museum 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 the artist’s work is continually on display, alongside exhibitions of the work of other contemporary artists.

The artist is the recipient of prestigious awards and honors, including the Nagoya City Art Encouragement Award (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; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Long Museum, Shanghai; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 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, Aichi, Japan.