yoshitomo nara's childlike characters take ceramic forms at pace gallery

yoshitomo nara’s ceramic works at pace gallery in seoul

From September 5 to October 21, 2023, the Seoul-based arts complex of Pace Gallery presents an exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara’s ceramic works. Marking the artist’s first solo show in Korea since 2005, the display features 140 ceramics and 30 drawings on paper and cardboard, along with selected items from his personal collection, capturing the Japanese artist’s ideas, feelings, and creative impulses.

The exhibition introduces Nara’s signature childlike characters as ceramic heads or paintings on vessels, evoking their emotionally charged messages, even with closed eyes and shut lips. The works are laid out in cabinets and atop custom wooden tables and shelves owned by the artist.

Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works, September 5 – October 21, Pace Gallery, Seoul | image by Sangtae Kim, courtesy of Pace Gallery

about yoshitomo nara

Yoshitomo Nara (find more here) became known in the late 1990s for his emotional, stylized images of childlike figures against monochrome backgrounds. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, including politics, punk rock, folk music, the 1960s counterculture, and his own childhood memories and experiences, Nara celebrates the introspective freedom of the imagination and the individual. The children in his works are depicted in a range of psychological states, from rebellious and resistant to quiet, pensive, and lonely.

Nara’s practice includes not only painting, but also drawing, photography, large-scale installations, and sculptures in ceramic, bronze, and fiber-reinforced plastic. During his 2007 residency in Shigaraki, Japan, the artist began experimenting with clay, a medium that allowed him to explore new ways of creating three-dimensional forms. The presentation at Pace Gallery (find more here) focuses on the expressionistic and material quality of his ceramic work. In addition to idiosyncratic plays on form and texture, hand-painted faces and written messages lend emotional and psychological meaning to the pieces. The ceramics are shown in conversation with a selection of his drawings in an active yet highly intimate setting that focuses on his sensitivity to expression in different but inherently connected materials and media.

Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works, September 5 – October 21, Pace Gallery, Seoul | image by Sangtae Kim, courtesy of Pace Gallery