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Lot Essay
Yoshitomo Nara grew up in a northern Japanese village. His association with cats dates back to his childhood, where he listened to English songs on the radio at home alone, and doodled while talking to his cat. His cat Chako became the protagonist of his first book Story of a Penguin – in this fantasy world, Nara and Chako take on an adventure all the way from the South Pole to the North.
Nara's childhood drawings were once considered by a teacher as "not childish, like drawn by an adult." However, his post-adulthood works depict both a child's innocence and the complexity of the adult world in one. In 1988, Nara began on six years of study in Düsseldorf with 2 boxes of cassette tapes and pa inti ng tool s. At the beginning, he could not speak a word in German. so he only talked to himself. "I recalled myself as a child who was talking to the cat, and rediscovered that sensitivity." Cat was conceived during this period, in which solitude and uncertainty of living in a foreign country brought change to Nara's work. "I no longer cared about being watched. I could no longer paint something that is not important to me. I paint all the backgrounds flat, making the children or animal most prominent – they became my self-portrait." Emerging from Nara's work are his abandoning of backgrounds, self-emancipation, childhood memories and loneliness. He uses bold, childlike lines to outline the image of the orange cat – its eyes closed, its mouth pouted, it is insouciant and peaceful. However, this tranquillity and cat 's natural playfulness are disturbed by its unsteady feet stepping on poles on the ground or in water, creating ripples around them.
Through nostalgia, this work takes the viewer back to the most direct and frank expression of childhood, perhaps awaking the long-forgot ten pure emotions in the heart.
Nara's childhood drawings were once considered by a teacher as "not childish, like drawn by an adult." However, his post-adulthood works depict both a child's innocence and the complexity of the adult world in one. In 1988, Nara began on six years of study in Düsseldorf with 2 boxes of cassette tapes and pa inti ng tool s. At the beginning, he could not speak a word in German. so he only talked to himself. "I recalled myself as a child who was talking to the cat, and rediscovered that sensitivity." Cat was conceived during this period, in which solitude and uncertainty of living in a foreign country brought change to Nara's work. "I no longer cared about being watched. I could no longer paint something that is not important to me. I paint all the backgrounds flat, making the children or animal most prominent – they became my self-portrait." Emerging from Nara's work are his abandoning of backgrounds, self-emancipation, childhood memories and loneliness. He uses bold, childlike lines to outline the image of the orange cat – its eyes closed, its mouth pouted, it is insouciant and peaceful. However, this tranquillity and cat 's natural playfulness are disturbed by its unsteady feet stepping on poles on the ground or in water, creating ripples around them.
Through nostalgia, this work takes the viewer back to the most direct and frank expression of childhood, perhaps awaking the long-forgot ten pure emotions in the heart.