travelneat的部落格

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Former Explosives Magazine
9 Justice Drive Admiralty, Hong Kong

 

Opening Hours

Tuesday – Thursday: 11am – 6pm

Friday – Sunday: 11am – 8pm

Last Thursday of the month: 11am – 8pm

 

 

Life is Only One! A provocative declaration - but of what? This statement comes from a billboard painting by the renowned international contemporary artiest, Yoshitomo Nara. Seemingly straightforward, it prompts a question that has no answer. Through an array of artworks in different mediums, Nara, with his deceptively simple and bold style, provokes thoughts about life's journeys, childhood and our child within.

 

Nara was born and raised in Hirosaki, a remote town in northern Japan. As a latchkey child of working parents, the artist's favorite companions were picture books and music. After art school in Japan, he continued his training in Germany, where he led a more disciplined and simpler life. He soon developed his iconic images of large headed girls who are at once rebellious but endearing, mischievous but innocent. His distinctive subject matter and style mean he is often associated with the manga-anime culture and the contemporary art movements in Japan - Superflat and Neo-Pop. However the artist refuses such labels. First, his inspirations are far more diverse and include travel, music of all kinds, books including comics and the humanities in general. Second, his early independence, which was forged deeper as a young artist, means his works carry greater depth than that of the surface treatment of manga inspired imagery.

 

The exhibition is a journey of memories, life and imaginations from Nara's past and present from which we can gain an understanding of this artist and his art practices. His open-ended question of life also open the way for our own reflections.

 

from the exhibition "無常人生：奈良美智 Life Is Only One 2015" Hong Kong