Yoshitomo Nara

YOSHITOMO NARA (Japan, 1959) for MOMA, New York.
"Welcome girl," 2017.
Screenprint on Canadian wood.
Skateboard.
Printed signature.
Limited edition, unnumbered. Sold out (sold out).
Measurements: 78,9 x 20 cm.

This skateboard reproduces the painting "Welcome Girl" (2017) by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. The piece, a limited edition, was produced by MOMA, the quintessential institution of international contemporary art,in whose collection Nara is represented. The skateboard was made in Canada from 7-ply maple wood.

Yoshitomo has become a cult artist, and his works are sought after by the most prestigious galleries. The secret of his popularity seems to lie in the fact that he amalgamates coldness and tenderness, violence and innocence, perversity and naïff aesthetics. He drinks from multiple languages: graffiti, anime, punk art, comics... He currently lives in Tokyo and has exhibited in many parts of the world. He graduated in Fine Arts at the University of Aichi in 1985, obtaining a master's degree at the same university after two years. Between 1988 and 1993 he studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. Nara emerged from the Japanese pop art movement of the 1990s. His works are at the same time bellicose and simple. In them he even depicts children or animals with weapons and an inquisitive gaze, but for Nara his creations are not aggressive at all. Nara was educated after World War II and is the spokesman for a generation that takes refuge behind naïve or kawaii aesthetics to demonstrate its disagreement with traditional Japanese society.