Born: Hirosaki, Japan, 1959
Education:
Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music, B.F.A., Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music, M.F.A., Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
One-Person Exhibitions
2010 Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool, Asia Society, New York, NY
2009 Yoshimoto Nara with Installation by YNG, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Yoshimoto Nara + graf, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2008-09Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2008 BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Galerie Zink, Münich, Germany
2007 NARA + GRAF, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain
Berlin Baracke, Galerie Zink, Berlin, Germany
2006 Moonlight Serenade, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa,Japan
A to Z, Yoshii Brick Brew House, Hirosaki, Japan
Yoshitomo Nara + graf, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Arndt & Partner, Zurich, Switzerland
2005 Home, graf gm, Osaka, Japan
Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Over the Rainbow: Yoshitomo Nara and Hiroshi Sugito, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (travelling to the K21, Düsseldorf, Germany)
Bridge, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan )
2004 Yoshitomo Nara, Hara Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Keiner & Meyer, Wien, Austria
Galerie Johnen & Schottle, Cologne, Germany
Yoshitomo Nara: new works 2004, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (travelling to Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, PA, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO, San Jose Museum of Art, NM, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI throughout 2004/2005)
S.M.L., Graf Media GM, Osaka, Japan
Galerie Zink & Gegner, Munich, Germany
New Drawings 2003, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
The Good, the Bad, the Average.... and Unique, Little More Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Stephen Friedman, London, UK
2002 Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Who Snatched the Babies, cneai, Chatou, France
12 Etchings, Spaceforce, Tokyo, Japan
2001 Nara Yoshitomo: in those days, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
I Don’t Mind, If You Forget Me, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama Japan (travels to Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Ashiya City Museum of Art, Asahikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Aomori Museum of Art) (cat.)
Yoshitomo Nara: Drawings, Collette, Paris, France
Clear For Landing, Galerie Michael Zink, Munich, Germany
In the White Room, Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, CA
2000 Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
In the Empty Fortress, Galerie Johnen & Schottle, Koln, Germany
Lullaby Supermarket, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Walk on, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
1999 Done Did, Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Happy Hour, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Somebody, Whispers in Nurnberg, Institut fur Moderne Kunst Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany (cat.)
Pave Your Dreams, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, CA
Walking Alone, The Ginza Art Space, Tokyo, Japan (cat.)
In the Floating World, Nadiff Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
No, They Didn’t, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1998 Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (cat.)
1997 Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, CA
Screen Memory, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Lonesome Puppy, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Drawing Days, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Galerie Michael Zink, Regensburg, Germany
1996 Galerie Johnen & Schottle (with Karen Kilimnik), Koln, Germany
Lonesome Puppy, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Hothouse Fresh, Gallery Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan (cat.)
Empty Surprise, Artium, Fukuoka, Japan
1995 Cup Kids, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya, Japan
Pacific Babies, Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, CA
In The Deepest Puddle, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan (cat.)
Nothing Gets Me Down, Galerie Humanite, Tokyo, Japan (cat.)
Oil on Canvas, Galerie Humanite, Nagoya, Japan (cat.)
Project for Gunma, Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Takasaki, Gunma, Japan
1994 lonesome babies, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan (cat.)
Hula Hula Garden, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Christmas For Sleeping Children, Itoki Crystal Hall, Osaka, Japan (cat.)
1993 Galerie Johnen & Schottle, Koln, Germany
Be Happy, Galerie Humanite, Nagoya & Tokyo, Japan (cat.)
1992 Loft Gallery, Deventer, Netherlands
Drawings, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1991 Harmlos, Galerie im Kinderspielhaus, Dusseldorf, Germany
cogitationes cordium, Galerie Humanite, Nagoya, Japan
Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1990 Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1989 Irrlichttheater, Stuttgart, Germany
1988 innocent being, Galerie Humanite, Nagoya & Tokyo, Japan
Goethe Institut, Düsseldorf, Germany
1985 Recent Works, Gallery Space to Space, Nagoya, Japan
1984 Wonder Room, Gallery Space to Space, Nagoya, Japan
It’s a Little Wonderful House, Love Collection Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Group Exhibitions
2010 Innocence – Art Towards Life, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi, Japan
Zenkyo-An × FOIL Get Up, Even If by Yourself Alone, Kenninji Zenkyo-an Temple, Kyoto
Neoteny Japan Takahashi Collection, Museum of Art, Ehime, Japan
2009 Yoshitomo Nara, Hiroshi Sugito, Tamami Hitsuda, Masako Ando, Mika Kato, Aichi Triennale Pre-event, “It’s a Little Playground,” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan (traveled to Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan)
Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Walking in My Mind, The Hayward Gallery, London. Yoshitomo Nara and installation by YNG
Rites de Passage, Schunck Glaspaleis, Heerlen, Netherlands
STAGES Lance Armstrong Foundation launch a global art exhibition to raise funds and awareness in the fight against cancer, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
15th Anniversary Inaugural Exhibition, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2008 A Perspective on Contemporary Art 6: Emotional Drawing, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2007 Cult Fiction, Hayward Gallery touring exhibition, New Art Gallery, Walsall; touring to Nottingham Castle, Nottingham; Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds; Aberystwyth Art Gallery, Aberystwyth; Tullie House, Carlisle
Pretty Baby, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
The Door into Summer, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
Disorder in the House, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels
Bernard Vuffet Museum, Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan
Silly Adult, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
Portrait Session, NADiff, Tokyo; touring to Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Summer Show, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Kiss Kiss, c/o - Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin, Germany
RADAR: Selections from the Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo, Japan
Temporary Art Museum Soi Sabai, Bangkok, Thailand
Long Live Sculpture!, Middelheim Open-Air Sculpture Museum, Middelheim, Belgium
A Magical Life, Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
10th Anniversary, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
35 40’ N 139 45’ E Tokyo, Archeus, London
Talking Pictures, Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
2005 Yokohama International Triennial, Yokohama, Japan
Ten Year Anniversary Exhibition, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
The Elegance of Silence: Contemporary Art from East Asia, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Little Boy: Pop Culture in Japan, Japan Society, New York, NY (curated by Takashi Murakami) (cat.)
Manga and Japanese Contemporary Art, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
2004 Art Cologne 2004: over the rainbow: Yoshitomo Nara and Horoshi Sugito, galerie zink & gegner, Munich, Germany
Time of My Life: Art with Youthful Spirit, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Somewhere…Yoshitomo Nara and Horoshi Sugito, galerie zink & gegner, Munich, Germany
Hirsohi Sugito and Yoshitomo Nara, Museum of Art Den Haage, Den Haage, Netherlands
2003 Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, Mori Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
Supernova: Art of the 1990’s from the Logan Collection, San Francisco, CA Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Nichijyou Seikatsu, Speak For, Tokyo, Japan
FOIL, Little More Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Painting in Our Time, The Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum, Niigata, Japan
Kids Are Us, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
Trauer/GRIEF, Atelier Augarten Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere Wien, Austria
girls don’t cry, Parco Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Ninos, Centro de Art de Salamanca, Spain
M_ARS- ART AND WAR, Neue Galerie Graz, Austria
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
Splat, Boom, Pow! The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (curated by Valerie Cassel) (travels) (cat.)
The Japanese Experience - Inevitable, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal-Unterowisheim, Germany
Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (curated by Vicky Clark and Barbara Bloemink) (cat.)
2002 Weiche Bruche. Japan, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Germany
BABEL 2002, National Museum of Conetemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
JAM: TOKYO - LONDON, Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Fragile Figures, Palette School, Tokyo, Japan
The Doraemon, Suntory Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Bokura no Hero and Heroine, Otaru City Museum of Art, Hokkaido, Japan
Backspace Drawing Days, Galerie Michael Zink, Munich, Germany
Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, MoMA QNS, Queens, New York
2001 Neo-Tokyo Japanese Art Now, MCA, Australia
Mr., Tam Ochiai, Hiroshi Sugito, Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Masahiko Kuwahara, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Takashi Murakami/Yoshitomo Nara, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
JAM: TOKYO - LONDON, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Public Offerings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
My Reality: My Reality and the Culture of Japanese Animation, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IO (curated by Jeff Fleming) (cat.)
Superflat, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA (curated by Takashi Murakami) (travels to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle) (cat.)
Almost Warm and Fuzzy: Childhood and Contemporary Art, P.S.1, Center for Contemporary Art, New York, NY (traveled to Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
2000 The Darker Side of Playland: Childhood Imagery from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, CA (cat.)
Presumed Innocent, Capc, Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, France
Trading Views, Stadtgalerie Saarbruecken, Germany / stadtische Galerie, Erlangen/ Municipal Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, Netherlands
Kinder des 20.jahrhunderts, Galerie der Stadt Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg / Mittelrhein-Museum, Koblenz, Germany
Almost Warm and Fuzzy: Childhood and Contemporary Art, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA (traveled to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ)
‘00, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
Dark Mirrors of Japan, de Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands (cat.)
Gendai, Center For Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Drawn From Life, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Superflat, Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (curated by Takashi Murakami) (cat.)
Continental Shift, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany
Viewing Path, Saarbrucken Staatgalerie, Saarbrucken, Germany
1999 Spellbound, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Forget about the ball and get on with the play, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
New Modernism for a New Millennium, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Painting for Joy: New Japanese Painting in 1990s, The Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo, Japan
Art is Fun 10: Angelic, Devilish, or Both, Hara Museum ARC, Shibukawa, Japan
Almost Warm and Fuzzy: Childhood and Contemporary Art, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IO
Tendance, Abbaye Saint-Andre Centre d’art Contemporain, Meymac, France
It’s an animal world, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
Yoshitomo Nara and Hiroshi Sugito, Gallery Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Art/Domestic, Setagaya Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (curated by Takashi Azumaya), (cat.)
1998 The Manga Age, Museum of Contemporary Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (cat.)
1997 Dream of Existence, Municipal Museum of Art, Budapest, Hungary
Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Drawing Show, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands (with Henk Visch)
Galerie & Ediciones Ginkgo, Madrid, Spain
VOCA, The Royal Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1996 Tokyo Pop, The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka City, Japan (cat.)
Ironic Fantasy: Another World by Five Contemporary Artists, The Miyagi Museum of Art, Miyagi, Japan (cat.)
Kind of Blue, Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Intangible Childhood, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Mie, Japan
1995 Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Drawing Chat (with Katsuhige Nakahashi), Shinanobashi Gallery, Osaka, Japan
Endless Happiness, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan
Art x = @, SAM Museum, Osaka, Japan
That Figures, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Book and Weight, Gallery Kuranuki, Osaka, Japan
POSITIV, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
Düsseldorf-anderer Ort, Orangerie Schloss Brake, Lemgo, Germany
the future of paintings, 1995, Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan
Takeoffs, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan
1994 Gunma Biennale, Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Takasaki, Gunma, Japan
my room is your room, 7th Nagoya Contemporary Art Fair, Nagoya City Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Harvest ‘94, Haus Bockdorf, Kempen, Germany
Harvest Kempen-Nagoya (with Shiro Matsui), Hakutosha, Nagoya, Japan
Art Against AIDS, Art Cologne, Koln, Germany
1993 Partners, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Animals, Galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem, Netherlands
Harvest ‘93 (with Shiro Matsui), Haus Bockdorf, Kempen, Germany
In Situ, Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht, Belgium
1992 Tijdelijk Asiel, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1991 4th Nagoya Contemporary Art Fair, Electricity Museum Nagoya, Nagoya, Japan
Pack, SA-IN Gallery, Pusan, Korea
1990 Brille, Galerie Pentagon, Koln, Germany
Acqua Strana, Galerie Ulla Sommers, Düsseldorf, Germany
1989 Mensch und Technik, Nixdorf A.G., Düsseldorf, Germany
1988 Feeling House, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Japan
1987 New Artists in Nagoya, Westbeth Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1986 Each Person’s Expression of Space, Gifu Prefectural Art Museum, Japan
Present ‘86, Gallery NAF, Nagoya, Japan
1985 Sense of Vision and Touch, Westbeth Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Five Person’s Musical Band, Love Collection Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1984 Paranoia, Westbeth Gallery, Nagoya, Japan