About the Exhibit - After all I'm cosmic dust

After the Lacma Museum had to postpone Yoshitimo Nara’s first international retrospective, the exhibit, After all I’m cosmic dust, was a welcome alternative. 

The exhibit is on view at Pace Gallery’s 25th street location in Chelsea, from Sep 18–Oct 24, 2020, and revolves around Nara’s drawings, which are the foundation of his practice. 

“For me, this turned out to be the point of origin for all my work, and it is a practice that I continue to this day... I have been drawing as though I were breathing. Or taking notes. Or thinking. That’s been my past thirty years.” - Yoshitomo Nara

“Nara makes his drawings anywhere and at any time. As a result, they embody a freedom that is vital to him. He pins these works on his studio walls, places them in drawers, or piles them high on his desk. Often much later, he returns to them to tap into memories that he then channels into new paintings and sculptures” (source) 

The exhibit consists of 28 works created by Nara at Tobiu Camp - an annual music and arts festival in Hokkaido. This explains the many musical references you can see in the works.

What’s also present is Nara's signature angry girl.

“Yoshitomo Nara is among the most beloved Japanese artists of his generation. His widely recognizable portraits of menacing figures reflect the artist’s raw encounters with his inner self.” - Lacma (source)  

Visiting The Gallery

About the Artist - Yoshitomo Nara 

Yoshitimo Nara grew up in Honshu, Japan. He received his B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. He also studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany.

“Yoshitomo Nara is a pioneering figure in contemporary art whose signature style—which expresses children in a range of emotional complexities from resistance and rebellion to quietude and contemplation—celebrates the introspective freedom of the imagination and the individual” - Pace Gallery (source) 

"Picture books tell many stories with one picture, so this kind of system, narratives emerging from a single picture, has had a much stronger influence on my work, particularly my early work..." - Yoshitomo Nara