Light Haze Days/Study, 2020

Light Haze Days/Study, 2020

Yoshitomo Nara, Light Haze Days / Study, 2020, Collection of the artist, Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo, © Yoshitomo Nara 2020, photo by Keizo Kioku

Nara produced this painting in June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The artist considers this work a “study” in search of a new artistic stylistic direction. The patchwork of color on the hair and clothes, as well the peach hue beneath the surface of the skin, reflect an unfinished quality akin to French modernist landscape painting. The blended colors that emanate from underneath her glassy eyes are also a departure from the linear U-shaped marks in the eyes that reflect fire and other objects in previous paintings. The expression exudes a pensive warmth that differs from the distant, introspective gaze of his previous portraits, signaling an emotional shift that is affected by the pandemic, which impacted the installation of this retrospective.