Pen and coloured pencil on paper

29 × 21cm. 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in.

Signed in Japanese and dated on the reverse

LITERATURE
Apr 1998, BT: Artist Interview, Bijutsu Publishing House, Tokyo, p.141
2011, Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete Works 1984-2010, Volume 2: Works on Paper, Bijutsu Publishing House, Tokyo, p.116
2013, Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete BT Archives 1991-2013, Bijutsu Publishing House, Tokyo, p.55
EXHIBITED
1997, Drawing Days, Hakutosha Gallery, Nagoya

PROVENANCE
26 Nov 2017, Christie’s Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 259
Private Collection, Asia

The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Rabbit Hills

Dialogue Across Time and Space
Rare Manga Dialogue Compositional Form in the Work of Yoshitomo Nara
“It brought to mind memories of my own lonely childhood and that atmosphere made me want to cut myself off from the world even more. Across the expanse of time and space, the 28 year old me in Germany started a dialogue with the eight-year-old me in Aomori.”
—Yoshitomo Nara
In 1989, Yoshitomo Nara was studying at Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany. However, language difficulties meant there was no one with who he could engage in heartfelt conversation and so he turned to painting as a way of expressing his feelings. In the work on auction Untitled, the artist crafts a dialogue across time and space using a white dog as a conduit through which he connects to childhood memories and the person he used to be. In this way, Nara pours out his feelings on living in a foreign land and honest emotions through manga-like dialogue, seeking to imbue his solitude with a semblance of warmth and tenderness.
Questions and Answers – Replete with Tenderness
In this painting, the artist engages in a discussion on the journey of life by asking and answering questions in German, with the little white dog and Yoshitomo Nara at either end of the conversation establishing the connection. The climate in Dusseldorf was similar to that in the artist’s hometown in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Moreover, during his time away from home, Nara reflected on his living environment as a child and through this work engages in a dialogue with the white dog that speaks to his confusion. He asks: “So this isn’t heaven or Hell?” The dog replies: “The place you live now is much better than any memorial anywhere in the world,” as if hinting that creating art is an outlet for life. Shortly thereafter, an answer appears next to the dog in Japanese “Really?” “It is true.” These repeated questions reveal the uncertainty in the artist’s heart. It is almost as if Nara is asking to be rescued from Germany, as with the raised hand in the lower part of the painting. Within the world of the painting, the dog is the friend who spends time with him and to who he reveals his feelings about living abroad.
Only three paintings with a question and answer structure appear in the 4,982 works that make up the Complete Works of Yoshitomo Nara, an indication as to the rareness of the form adopted in this work.
Breaking Through Two Dimensional Barriers
The background to the work is colored with blue pencil, the only white area being where the words are written, a form similar to that used to present dialogue boxes in Japanese manga, where the dark background highlights the words and powerful emotions. This is intimately related to the two dimensional world of manga in which Nara grew up. Indeed, most of the comics the artist encountered as a child were in a format he later used in his art and from which Nara constructed his own artistic world. This piece has a surrealist style, the deep blue background replete with mystery and the white dog seemingly wanders around the artist’s subconscious dream world, with images and words overlapping in the mind of Yoshitomo Nara. Moreover, the image of the dog transcends time and space and as such breaks with the two dimensional limitations of manga comics, connecting the artist’s childhood and real life in the here and now, preserving the purity and sincerity of his feelings in time and space.

Price estimate:
HKD: 320,000 - 420,000
USD: 41,000 - 53,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 377,600