Customer Reviews

Birth and Present: A Studio Portait of Yoshitomo Nara

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Yoshitomo Nara is one of my favorite artists. He is also a giant in today's Art world. Although, shy and soft-spoken his work speaks large volumes. He rarely talks about what inspired his work, because he allows his fans to come to their own conclusions. He also is someone with integrity because he refuses to sell out by allowing big corporations to take control of his work. As a result, he is not as big as he could be.

This book shows Mr. Nara in his Japan studio working on various art pieces. There are no words, just pictures of him working and concentrating. At the very end of the book, the author explains almost every picture to give you an understanding of what is going on. The book also explains Mr. Nara, a Japanese man, recently moved back to Japan and these pictures are some of the first pictures of him working in his native land.

A good-looking man, Nara actually lives in his studio alone because it allows him to create his work in a large area. As most people know, the spaces in Japan are small but Nara is used to working in big spaces because he lived in Germany for over a decade. Therefore, he purchased a warehouse to work and live in. You have to feel sorry for him because the climate in the warehouse is not ideal for a human being and he has very basic living set ups (for example, a kitchen).

I called this review, "A Silent Giant" because it fits Nara and this book.