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Yoshitomo Nara: Pop Art

Born in 1959 in Hirosaki, Japan, Yoshitomo Nara is a widely known Pop Artist whose paintings, sculptures, and drawings have gained a cult following around the world.

Nara has a BFA (1985) and an MFA (1987) from Aichi Prefectural University in Japan, and he studied art at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany between 1988 and 1993.

Raised in the country by working parents, Nara was a “latch-key kid” who was often left alone. To entertain himself, he read comic books, watched Japanese cartoons, and played with his pets for company. In a post-World War II Japan, Nara was also influenced by the influx of Western pop culture icons such as Walt Disney and Warner Bros. animation. Nara has also listed punk rock music, Renaissance painting, literature, illustration, and graffiti as inspirations.

Nara typically paints children with over-sized heads, and big round eyes, that seem harmless but not innocent. The children are usually alone with little or no background. His “cute” characters, often have accusatory or simply annoyed expressions, and they sometimes carry weapons. Nara, however, does not see his weapon-wielding subjects as aggressors. “Look at them, they [the weapons] are so small, like toys. Do you think they could fight with those?” he says. “I don’t think so. Rather, I kind of see the children among other, bigger, bad people all around them, who are holding bigger knives…”

Nara has exhibited widely in Japan and around the world .

For more information visit Tomio Koyama Gallery. For an interesting article on his work, visit Metroactive Arts.

: Daydreamer © Yoshitomo Nara

Sources: San Jose Museum of Art, Wikipedia,

Katsushika Hokusai: 36 Views of Mount Fuji

In honour of my recent climb to the top of Japan’s Mount Fuji, I present Katsushika Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji. The series of colour woodblock prints depict Mount Fuji in different seasons, and in various weather conditions in a variety of locations.

Born in the autumn of 1760, Hokusai was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. As a child, he learned wood block cutting and was apprenticed to a book-lending shop. At the age of 19, he studied at the school of Katsukawa Shunsho, a leading woodblock artisan of the time, who was known for his portraits of popular actors.

Hokusai studied the techniques of the Kano Yusen, Tsutsumi Torin, and the Sumiyoshi Naikie schools. He was also greatly intrigued by the Western art that entered Japan through Dutch trading.

Beginning in 1814, Hokusai published his Hokusai Manga sketchbooks. The popular books contained thousands of drawings of people, religious figures, and animals.

Hokusai’s “36 views of Mount Fuji” are his best known prints and are among the most famous of the Japanese woodcuts. He was 69 when he began the project and was already known for his painting, book illustration and surimono (commissioned prints) designs. Hokusai worked on the series for almost ten years before its publication in 1830 and they are considered by many to be his best work. After the original publication, due to their popularity, ten more prints were added.

Hokusai was a prolific artist and in his lifetime produced more than 30,000 print designs. He is said to have been an eccentric man with a restless nature. He changed his artistic name more than thirty times in his career, and changed his residence 93 times. He lived a long, productive life, continuing to produce prints well into his eighties.

Katsushika Hokusai died on April 18, 1849 at the age of 89. His last words were “If heaven gives me ten more years, or an extension of even five years, I shall surely become a true artist.”

To view the complete series of 36 (plus 10 extra) Views of Mount Fuji, visit Wikipedia.