For the first time in the UK, a public institution has dedicated its space to a full-scale retrospective of Yoshitomo Nara, the Japanese artist whose enigmatic, wide-eyed children have become icons of contemporary art. This Hayward Gallery exhibition, expanded from its previous iterations at the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Museum Frieder Burda, presents a rare and immersive journey through four decades of Nara’s deeply personal and emotionally charged work.
Nara’s visual language hits you immediately – those moon-faced children with their saucer eyes that somehow manage to be both adorable and deeply unnerving. They don’t just look at you; they stare right through you, their baby-fat cheeks belying the challenge in their gaze. There’s something profoundly disquieting about these lone figures, existing in that uncomfortable space between childhood sweetness and something much darker, much more knowing.
The exhibition traces their evolution from early works, such as “Ships in Girl ” (1992), which subverted Japan’s kawaii aesthetic, to recent pieces, including “Midnight Tears ” (2023), where fragmented brushstrokes and watery eyes suggest a world trembling with uncertainty.
Nara’s influences are as eclectic as his output. Growing up in Tōhoku, he spent hours drawing alone, soundtracked by the Far East Network (FEN), the American military radio that introduced him to folk, blues, and later punk genres, which seeped into the rebellious spirit of his work. His time in Germany, studying under Neo-Expressionist A.R. Penck, sharpened his aesthetic, blending European modernism with his introspective storytelling.
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima disaster profoundly impacted Nara’s work. In pieces like “From the Bomb Shelter” (2017), we see his signature children transformed—no longer just rebellious, but survivors. That haunting image of a child emerging tentatively from darkness doesn’t just represent personal anguish; it captures Japan’s national psyche in that moment—the way ordinary people carried both unimaginable loss and stubborn hope in their bones. Nara’s art shifted from being about individual expression to something more vital: a communal language for processing catastrophe.
What makes Nara’s work so compelling is its ability to straddle the realms of pop culture and profound emotional depth. His figures could be characters from a punk album cover or fragments of a half-remembered dream. As Hayward director Ralph Rugoff notes, Nara’s genius lies in his “psychological immediacy,” which bridges high art and popular imagery, tapping into universal feelings of alienation, longing, and defiance.
Curated by Yung Ma, the exhibition is more than a survey—it’s an intimate portrait of an artist whose work resonates across generations. The accompanying catalogue, featuring essays by Yeewon Koon and Barry Schwabsky, along with an interview with Nara himself, is an essential companion for those wanting to delve deeper. – PCR 2025
Photos/Words © Artlyst 2025
Yoshitomo Nara at the Hayward Gallery, London Until 31 August 2025