Coloured pencil on paper

20.8 x 14.5 cm. 8 1/4 x 5 3/4 in.

Signed in English on center of the top
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

The Softest Stroke, The Deepest Puddle

After graduated from the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1993, Yoshitomo Nara visited the United States for a short period, staying in the University of California, Los Angeles. During that time, he worked with the famous Japanese novelist Banana Yoshimoto many times, painting the book covers for the writer. He used to paint on the paper printed with the Japanese characters In the Deepest Puddle and created a series of splendid paper works. In the Deepest Puddle is a work created in such a condition.

In the middle of the sky blue painting paper, the characters In the Deepest Puddle are printed there. The face of a stubborn boy appears on the left of the printed words. His ears point towards the sky and his eyes open widely and look upon the surroundings. The corner of his mouth is down, yet unyielding. The bangs hang there without any decoration. All of these characters seem bring the young Nara to the front of us, a boy questioning the entire world. Artist uses the dark green to shape the contour of the boy. The close color range shows artist's harmonic use of color. The painting is a testimonial of the friendship between Yoshitomo Nara and Banana Yoshimoto, two Talents in art creation. It is also included in Banana Yoshimoto's book In the Deepest Puddle, the book published in 1997 with the same name as the painting. Painting on the paper with these characters printed only appeared three times in the market. This time we are honoured to present one of them.

Price estimate:
HKD: 40,000 – 80,000
USD: 5,200 – 10,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 49,560