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The Arts Intel Report

Yoshitomo Nara: I Forgot Their Names and Often Can't Remember Their Faces but Remember Their Voices Well

Mar 20 – Aug 22, 2021
161 Glass St, Dallas, TX 75207, United States

“For me, there is no distinct sex because people become men or women when they grow up,” explains the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. “Children are more neutral. That is the way I see them.” Nara is known for super-stylized depictions of large-headed children, often isolated in monochrome backgrounds. He portrays them in ambiguous emotional states such as melancholy and contemplation, but they can also look sly, threatening, even alien. This retrospective presents paintings, drawings, and sculptures from 2006 to the present. —E.C.

Yoshimoto Nara, “No War,” 2019. Courtesy of the artist, Blum & Poe, and Pace Gallery.