On October 6, celebrated Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara opened the second installment of his traveling exhibition, “A Bit Like You and Me” at the Aomori Museum of Art in Japan after closing the show’s first stop at the Yokohama Museum of Art in late September. Consisting of new drawings, paintings and sculptures, the show represents a new stage in Nara’s artistic development. Rather than conceptualizing his sour-faced kawaii characters as his own alter-egos, Nara relinquishes his characters as independent entities. “Many people say while looking at my work, ‘Oh, this is me!’ I have come to accept this phenomenon as long as their self-projection is introspective rather than merely visual and superficial. However, a part of me still feels that I am the parent who gave birth to my works. Therefore, my works are ‘a bit like me’ and ‘a bit like you,'” said Nara in his artist’s statement. Take a look at a teaser video from the exhibition and some of Nara’s works below.
