Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara received a BFA and MFA from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan in 1987. The following year, he moved to Germany, where he continued to study and paint for the next twelve years. By the time Nara returned to Japan in 2000, he had become a leader in the Japanese neo Pop art movement. Citing rock and punk music as his greatest sources of inspiration, he developed a signature style, depicting seemingly innocent children and animals with menacing undertones. Nara’s work straddles the lines between fine art, illustration, and design, and can be found in galleries and museums as well as on T-shirts, ashtrays, skateboards, and postcards.