AM stopped by again at the Park Avenue Armory to check up on the progress of Yoshitomo Nara and YNG/graf during this week’s “Open Studio” session. This time, we got to take full pictures detailing some of the amazing strides made in the past two days since we last visited the crew. Nara’s of pseudo workspace was filled with what looks to be completed works on paper, most of which will be added to the upcoming retrospective at Asia Society in two weeks.
We also got to meet with co-curator Miwako Tezuka to discuss some of the exhibition details. Apparently YNG has a few surprises coming down the pipeline as there multiple installations planned. What we can tell you is that YNG is going old school in the spirit of the retrospective and bringing back “Home”. For those that don’t know, “Home” is the very first collaboration between Nara & YNG in 2005. Other installation features will include a looping photo montage of Nara’s photographs of children (a likely source of inspiration for his works). All in all, what’s planned looks to be epic, so definitely make plans to attend the opening on September 9th.
Check out a preview of the pieces for the retrospective and a very special Nara giveaway after the jump.
AMstopped by the opening of Yoshitomo Nara & design firm graf/YNG’s ”Open Studio” at the Park Avenue Armory. Using the massive Armory venue as a central staging ground, the YNG crew hit the ground running; creating a modular structure/installation designed to be carted up Park Ave in the upcoming week for the retrospective opening September 9th at the Asia Society. There, Nara will exhibit over 50 works to go along with the always impressive installations that accompany the immersive shows.
Occupying the other half of the Armory space, Nara has a make shift studio where on-lookers can observe the master at work on some fresh pieces intended to be additions of this exhibition. The in-progress construction site was just that as attendees were required to wear hard hats and closed-toed shoes as safety precautions to gain entry to the work site. This unique experience is open daily from 4pm - 7pm until August 27th, so definitely make a trip up to the Park Avenue Armory to check out Nara and his crew hard at work.
Good News/Bad News… The bad news: we were informed to stop taking further pictures until Thursday. The good news: we got a nice shot of Nara’s pseudo studio before that conversation.
Remember when we mentioned that Yoshitomo Nara will be unveiling a pair of statues on the Upper East Side and his retrospective at the Asia Society? Well even better news - a special book boxed set will be released on September 1st to go along with this opening of “Nobody’s Fool”. The comprehensive monograph documents much of the 20 years of work for Nara and will give us an in depth view on one of our favorite artists. Pre-order it here from Abrams.
Photo via NY Times & Andrea Rojas/Art Production Fund
Some exciting news for Yoshitomo Nara fans out there yesterday as the NY Times announced that on August 9th, a pair of 12-foot-high fiberglass Nara dogs will be placed on the Upper East Side (one across from the entrance to the Asia Society at 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, and the other at 67th Street and Park Avenue just in front of the Park Avenue Armory)
The Asia Society will be hosting a major retrospective with the famous Japanese pop artist entitled “Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool,” starting September 9th and ending on Jan 2nd featuring more than 50 works and installations. As if that was not enough, before the exhibition opens, the artist will be working on a reproduction of his studio with design firm graf/YNG inside the Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory - all open to the public from August 23 - 27. You can get an idea of what to expect from these collaborative art structures by looking at some previous coverage from The Baltic, Blum & Poe, Art Basel Switzerland ‘09, and Art HK ‘10.
New York, get ready to get your Nara on. Let’s just hope he won’t be arrested like the last time he was in NY. We’ll definitely have more to follow for you as the action begins…
Yoshitomo Nara unveiled a new series of works at Japan’s Tomio Koyama Gallery yesterday. As we mentioned earlier, Nara has been very busy honing his talents on this new medium for over a year at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park. The results of his hard work clearly showed in his 20 or so ceramic sculptures both large and small in scale. Of course, what would a Nara show be without some of his signature drawings. It’s very exciting when an artist explore a new medium outside of his/her established skill set mid career. Lets hope to see more exploration from Nara in the near future. Check it all out after the jump.
Acclaimed Japanese pop artist Yoshitomo Nara will be opening a new show this weekend, May 15th, at the Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo. Nara has been training for over a year with the use of ceramics at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park and this will his exciting debut show in this new medium. Look for large and small sculptural works, in combination with some drawings.
Famed Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and Giant Robot’s Eric Nakamura (interviewed) were recently invited to participate in the Too Cute conference at Princeton University. It’s pretty rare to hear a talk from an artist such as Nara, especially translated. He touches on his childhood, his work with clay and sculpture, the composition of his paintings, among other things.
Andy Warhol Lot 57: Andy Warhol, Jackie (1964), acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 20 by 16in (50.8 by 40.7cm). Est. 800,000-1,200,000 GBP
Christie’s and PhillipsdePury have proven to have strong works available at their forthcoming auctions (check out our previews here and here). AMnow examines Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening and Day Art Sales (February 10 - 11), which contain great pieces by some of our favorite artists, such as Feng Zhengjie, Yoshitomo Nara and Andy Warhol(above). We are happy to report that several of our favorite lots, included those by Frank Auerbach, Lucio Fontana and Andy Warhol, performed well, either within or above estimate, in the evening sale and look forward to results on the day sale that is previewed (with several highlights from last night’s auction) after the jump.
As a gallery with one of the largest physical spaces in Los Angeles, it was only fitting that Blum & Poe occupied the most real estate by any gallery at Art Los Angeles Contemporary. Typically, a gallery may have a booth at a art fair. Blum & Poe took up an entire room for themselves. One of the first sights you see as you enter the fair, the powerhouse Blum & Poe’s space featured pieces by artists on their spectacularly talented roster such as established stars Dave Muller, Sam Durant, and Yoshitomo Nara.
The crowd favorite Nara had 4 drawings on paper, each depicting his signature beloved wide-eyed characters. See those and all the other pieces at the Blum & Poe room after the jump…
On February 1st, Midtown gallery Haunch of Venison will play host to an auction event to benefit HiArt!’sTime In children’s art initiative. Time In is an innovative program that allows children from underserved classrooms to participate in an arts-based immersion designed to open their imaginations and creativity through visual art, music, movement, film and literature. The event will offer refreshments and silent and live auctions of works by Yoshitomo Nara, Tomokazu Matsuyama (interviewed), William Wegman, Brian Alfred and many others. Online bidding on items will be available here.
More images and information about this event can be found after the jump.
One of our favorite galleries in the world is Tokyo’s Tomio Koyama, which represents many of Japan’s best know artists, as well as such Western artists such as Gert and Uwe Tobias, Mark Ryden and Tom Sachs. At Art Basel this year, Koyama focused mainly on their stable of Japanese artists, including several amazing works by Hideaki Kawashima and Yoshitomo Nara.
Check out all the images from their booth, after the jump.
As certain as seeing rain if you go to Seattle, there are some artists we expect to see during any art fair. So, on our first lap through Art Basel, we were alarmed to not find much work of Japanese blue chipper Yoshitomo Nara. But, after a closer look at his represented galleries including Tomio Koyama and Marianne Boesky, we found lots of love behind the curtain hidden away from the casual fair-goers. Long an AM favorite, we saw some rather unique techniques that are not common to his usual repertoire. For example, we saw a piece fully rendered by colored markers and along with some gorgeous graphite drawings that we couldn’t take our eyes off of.Check it all out after the jump.
Now, AM takes a closer look at the two wheeled beauties from Yoshitomo Nara (seen above), Shepard Fairey, Futura, Marc Newson, Barry McGee, and KAWS, as well as a sneak-peek at the bike from Damien Hirst, which will be ridden by Lance during the final stage of the race on July 26, after the jump…
