David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, featuring new paintings and drawings, recent sculptures, and earlier works selected by the artist. Spanning the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street and 533 West 19th Street locations in New York, this exhibition will be the artist’s first solo presentation with David Zwirner and his first major solo exhibition in New York in nearly a decade.
The nearly one hundred works on view explore Nara’s multidisciplinary approach and his multifaceted worldview. Behind his artistic creativity and his exceptional technical mastery of materials and methods lies an expansive imagination and a deeply personal sensibility originating from his solitary childhood growing up in Aomori in rural northern Japan, at a time when the nation’s rapid economic growth had yet to reach the region–being physically remote and culturally separate from the big cities, it had its own unhurried pace. Memories of snow-covered landscapes and a connection with nature and all living things remain present for Nara.
Another crucial catalyst for Nara’s artistic expression was his revelatory discovery of music.