Pace Prints’ first Yoshitomo Nara exhibition will feature Ukiyo-e style woodcuts that were printed recently at the Pace Editions Workshop by the master printer, Yasu Shibata.
Nara’s images reference a world inhabited by children and animals, often brandishing weapons, frequently irritated and angry, but also vulnerable and sad. Nara’s iconography exhibits the significant influence of Japanese Manga and Anime, as well as punk rock and pop music.
Two additional images were created by Nara and also translated by Shibata into Ukiyo-e style woodcuts. After the Acid Rain (Day Version) was commissioned by the Asia Society and co-published with Pace Editions Inc. and will be exhibited along with a companion print, After the Acid Rain (Night Version) in which twenty-four blocks were used to create a print of thirty-one colors.
A selection of the actual woodblocks will be displayed in the exhibition to illustrate the printmaking process that was used to create these editions.
Yoshitomo Nara’s work is included in the collections of Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music, Japan, The Aomori Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan, The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan, Museum of Art and Design, Nurnberg, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, The Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Japan, and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.