Yoshitomo Nara
I Forgot Their Names and Often Can't Remember Their Faces but Remember Their Voices Well
Dallas Contemporary
20 March 2021 - 22 August 2021
Yoshitomo Nara is one of the most beloved artists in the world. Since the late 1990s, he has developed a unique body of work with a universal resonance. Anyone who encounters Nara’s work is confronted with images that evoke deep human emotion in the form of the archetypical characters the artist has engendered and shared with the world through diverse media. The exhibition I Forget Their Names and Often Can’t Remember Their Faces but Remember Their Voices Well, brings together rarely seen bodies of work such as large scale works on wood that the artist refers to as “Billboard Paintings”, ambitious works on cardboard, new drawings, new bronze sculptures and the gigantic, yet adorable, puppy. The selection of work highlights raw, informal and graphic aspects of Nara’s practice. He describes the images on used surfaces such as cardboard, wood or envelopes, as easily emerging because of the “lived” quality of the material. Meanwhile, the painting on canvass serves as a counterpoint, reminding the viewer of the challenge the artist faces when confronting a pure white canvass.
Furthermore, the exhibition explores Nara’s ability to create imagery that the public can relate to and the corresponding artistic strategies he employs to make compelling artworks through what appears to be simple forms of portraiture. We see that Nara employs the graphic language of popular culture, including animation techniques similar to those used by Walt Disney or pre-Hispanic imagery such as the Aztecs or Mayans- enlarged heads and short bodies - to most effectively convey a range of human emotions. Nara’s solitary childlike figures evoke empathy and a natural desire to nurture and protect. It is easy for the viewer to engage with Nara’s work, one can pick a painting or drawing that illustrates how the day is going or how one feels at that moment. Recent research in esthetics and neuroscience reveal the phenomenon of “embodied simulation”, the subconscious identification and mirrored feelings of others observed in artworks. Nara’s imagery triggers an empathetic response, allowing for a direct experiential understanding of his inner world. In doing so Nara’s practice confirms his mastery of conveying human emotion, reminding us that experiencing art is not only about thinking but about feeling as well.
Adjunct Curator: Pedro Alonzo
Curatorial Assistant: Inés Maldonado Cabañas
IG @michinara3
Photo credit: Kevin Todora