Yoshitomo Nara: Pinacoteca

Recent works and a gorgeously crafted miniature gallery from the much-loved Japanese artist

From the outset of his career, Japanese painter and sculptor Yoshitomo Nara (born 1959) has fruitfully explored the relationship between art and the space in which it is placed. At the cornerstone of Nara’s recent exhibition in Pace’s London gallery was the most recent product of his ongoing study: a new multiroom installation that was reworked from an earlier project titled London Mayfair House. Borrowing its title from the Ancient Greco-Roman term for a public art salon, Pinacoteca (2021) is a specially crafted, tiny, homelike structure that imitates an exhibition space. On the internal walls, the artist hung new paintings on wood and canvas as well as drawings on paper, used envelopes and cardboard boxes. On the external walls, which have been directly painted onto, Nara hung new paintings that are stylistically simpler and more graphic than the works inside the installation. Yoshitomo Nara: Pinacoteca presents a close look at the structure, as well as the artist’s recent paintings, sculpture and works on cardboard also displayed in the exhibition. An essay by acclaimed music writer Simon Reynolds explores the relationship of music to Nara’s artistic production, and an essay by curator Stephanie Rosenthal dives deep into the role of built environments in the artist’s oeuvre.