Detail: This fall, Asia Society devotes its entire museum space to a major exhibition of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, one of the most influential Neo Pop artists working today. More than one hundred works including drawings, paintings, sculptures, and installation works—created over the last two decades and many of which have never been exhibited in the United States—will emphasize the relationship of Nara’s art to rock and punk music, an ongoing source of inspiration and prevailing reference point in his work.
Born in 1959 in Japan, where he presently lives and works, Nara is internationally recognized for his work, which has inspired an enormous cult following among youth in Japan and throughout Asia.
“For the first time in Asia Society’s history, the entire Museum will be devoted to the work of one contemporary artist,” notes Asia Society Museum Director Melissa Chiu, who cocurated the exhibition with the Museum’s Associate Curator Miwako Tezuka. “We think this is fitting, given Nara’s considerable body of work, often associated with manga and the Japanese Pop movement of the 1990s,” Chiu says. “Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool aims to shed new light on the artist’s practice, focusing on the pervasive influence of rock and punk music on Nara, through the exhibition’s content, thematic focus, and unique installations.”
Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool is accompanied by a fully illustrated 271-page catalogue including contributions from the curators and leading contemporary art critics Midori Matsui and Michael Wilson, an extensive interview with Nara, and an essay by the artist’s long-time installation design collaborator Hideki
Toyoshima. Published by Asia Society Museum in association with Abrams, New York, the book also includes select English translations of Nara Voice, the artist’s popular former blog.

About the exhibition’s title:

This exhibition title Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool is drawn from the title track of Dan Penn’s 1973 Southern soul album. A renowned American songwriter and singer, Penn is somewhat reclusive, avoiding the limelight to maintain his creativity and independence. Nara’s choice of this title, and references to Penn in his work, are his homage to the individualism of a musician he reveres.