All My Little Words

To be called “one of the best-known artists of his generation worldwide”, puts a target on Nara’s back that is undeserved. Such weighty expectations can only make his reputation stumble. His work, and his quiet application to just getting on with it, is in no way brashly populist, even though it may be highly accessible. Known for a decades-long focus on producing images of “angry girls”, the paintings, drawings, and sculptures in this exhibition might even seem a bit weird and obsessive. And yet they can also be seen as innocent and avoid the creepy cute. In graphic style, there’s a sense of crossover with comic books and also children’s book illustrations. There’s a quality and charm to the craft of their making – ranging widely from the almost throwaway sketch to the highly produced – that perhaps doesn’t come over well in reproduction as they are essentially delicate and sensitive. Nara is strongly associated with the Japanese Superflat movement but his work is not so much about a style, or manifesto, as about a state of mind that he seems to explore. That’s perhaps why the work is so popular. He makes an emotional connection, exploring childhood, girlhood, and a kind of punk sensibility. He apparently finds Western music and English-language songs hugely influential on his work process even though he doesn’t understand the words. In a similar way, much of his fanbase doesn’t understand the Japanese culture he comes from but is delighted to meet him in the spaces where he dreams.