ࡱ> CED5@ Wbjbj22 (.XXWjjjjjjj~,2~ZZZZZZZZ"$$$$$$$qRHjZZHjjZZ]VVVvjZjZ"V"V0VjjZN H."s0W*"W~~jjjjWjZn V d ZZZHH~~DDL ~~ 3750 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri phone 314 535 4660 fax 314 535 1226 www.contemporarystl.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Karin Moody 314-863-3033 x228 The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis presents YOSHITOMO NARA: NOTHING EVER HAPPENS DECEMBER 3, 2004 FEBRUARY 27, 2005 First U.S. Traveling Exhibition By This Imaginative And Engaging Japanese Artist ST. LOUIS OCTOBER 29, 2004 The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis presents the much anticipated exhibition Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens, opening 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 3, 2004, 3750 Washington Boulevard in Grand Center. Yoshitomo Naras works, which enjoy a cult status in his native Japan and are among the most recognizable of contemporary art images, appeal to a range of generations, nationalities, and temperaments and are peppered now into the fabric of American pop culture. This exhibition will feature paintings, drawings and sculptures created by Nara over the past few years, many of which have never been shown publicly. Perhaps the most prevalent trend in Japanese contemporary art is the influence of anime (animation) and manga (comic books). These popular styles are known for their highly stylized, flat surfaces, stories that incorporate technology and cyborg culture, and a preponderance of cute characters that reference childhood. Like that of his contemporaries, Naras work references childhood and is characterized by a flat, graphic style, but his artistic influences reveal a much broader range, including Renaissance painting, literature, illustration, graffiti, and punk rock. The paintings, drawings, and sculptures of young children and childhood pets in Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens are, like real children, more emotionally complex than most adults acknowledge children to be; they are at once charming and accessible, yet enigmatic and charged with undercurrents of malaise and discontent. What Nara expresses in his work is the alienation and fierce independence natural to kids. He invites us to return to a time when innocence and unruliness went hand in hand, when emotions were not expected to be filtered, when make-believe was not equated with lunacy and when the world was a fantastic and terrifying kingdom to be explored, not conquered. The exhibition, Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens, is accompanied by a 96-page catalogue of the same title featuring 45 color reproductions and essays from pop cultural icons such as Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, author Dave Eggers, Leonard Nimoy, and Debbie Harry, front-woman of Blondie. It is co-published by the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and Perceval Press in Los Angeles. Yoshitomo Nara will be in St. Louis for the opening of his exhibition on December 3. Kristin Chambers, Curator of the exhibition will give a free public talk at the Contemporary January 27, 2005 at 7 p.m. Artist Background: Born in 1959, Nara was raised in postWorld War II Japan, an era defined by aggressive economic development and an influx of pop culture influences from the West, including the animation of Walt Disney and Warner Bros. While many of his contemporaries were inundated by the pop components of a renewed Japanese culture, Nara was a child of working parents, a latch-key kid who lived in the country and spent time with mainly his imagination, comic books and family pets to keep him company. Dismissing commentary that definitively points to anime and mange as basis of his work, Nara explains, People say you have a big influence from Japanese animation. No, I have a big influence from my childhood. Certainly American cartoons and Japanese comics and animated television shows such as Gigantor and Speed Racer were a part of his childhood, but equally influential were the landscape of the Japanese countryside, the isolation it imposed, and the imagination it fostered. The prolific and soft-spoken Nara is internationally recognized for his neo-pop style paintings and sculptures that feature big-eyed, alternately sad, mischievous or even malevolent children. *** This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and curated by Kristin Chambers. Local presentation of the exhibition is generously funded by Charlotte and Bill Ford, New York, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts & Education Council. Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens is sponsored by an anonymous donor with the additional support of the Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, The Japan Foundation, Toby Devan Lewis, The Peter Norton Family Foundation, Nancy and Joel Portnoy, and Jennifer McSweeney Reuss. 038Lvwx  / 𰛉w^H+hh^35B*CJOJQJ\aJph1hh^356B*CJOJQJ\]aJph"h"56CJ OJQJ\]aJ "hy56CJOJQJ\]aJ(h"h"56CJOJQJ\]aJ h"h" h"6]h"5>*\h"h"CJOJQJaJh":CJOJQJaJh";CJOJQJaJ h"5\jh"Uwx / 0 U V 9 : z{*  u0dh]u^0gdy   dh] gdgd^3$a$gd $a$gd^3gdygd"$a$gd"W/ 0 U V   ' ; = ųŎpY?+'h hM[CJOJQJaJmHnHu3h h5W56CJOJQJ\]aJmHnHu-h h5W5CJOJQJ\aJmHnHuh hRmCJOJQJaJh h"CJOJQJaJh h^3CJOJQJaJh^3"h h^35CJOJQJ\aJ"h h"5CJOJQJ\aJ"h h"5CJOJQJ\aJ"h h 5CJOJQJ\aJ+hh 5B*CJOJQJ\aJph= E h 6 9 : y{*,K`ײƠsgWWsWsQJQD hCJ hSO6CJ hSOCJh hSO6CJOJQJaJh CJOJQJaJh h CJOJQJaJh hSOCJOJQJaJh 5CJOJQJ\aJ"h h 5CJOJQJ\aJ'h h?CJOJQJaJmHnHu!hCJOJQJaJmHnHu'h h"CJOJQJaJmHnHu'h h5WCJOJQJaJmHnHu*+, 01567 ] gdj$   ] a$gdB   ] gdj  |0]|^0gd |0]|^0gdSO ] gdB "0]"^0gdSO dh]gd  |0]|^0gdSOgdSO /0457UiUwhTE5EhBhB6CJOJQJaJhBhBCJOJQJaJ'hjhSOCJOJQJaJmHnHuhjhBCJOJQJaJhBCJOJQJaJh CJOJQJaJhjh 6CJOJQJaJhjh CJOJQJaJ"hjh 5CJOJQJ\aJh5OJQJ\aJ!hSOCJOJQJaJmHnHuhhSO5CJ hSOCJ hCJhh5CJ\7DEUVW ] gdjgdB dPgdB $da$gdBdgdBUVW'hBhSOCJOJQJaJmHnHuhBhBCJOJQJaJ&1h:p/ =!"#$%$ Dd qqh  C DA,Contemporary logotypebh $Y6T;DD D n< $Y6T;DPNG  IHDResRGBgAMA a cHRMz&u0`:pQ<PLTEٟ pHYs.#.#x?v IDATxM`JD"(dU 3Bl- "Q%TF\;`Ȁ?:7+$\>`>PNK© O4|/?T_' DS|h*/M_ _ҜoU>O[U۸[վ\"~suO;XmLo*BTεXâF.n#VP+mkʋVҺ7> ~p[ vT%-_C )r,^S<~xqy|Ň^PTgK1\Euz@| #3/^Wnsn8r:t+D[gR 5,Fë?z<T 1]x+jj5m>9Ѵk %:8\/? 5E#`b<4r-?8Ep ]\@<I+[r=,>E{|CGRo9<æ@u<Xr=i3O": <*Rnb'J~6nǫߚ>Gvo<).ӕO[qu1|hFx-!.jt)›KmOynB{|_^P,;c_2xBPs,,lx;-]o4\s:=>Oeyu9~h767, .9 r߽Gs-OYz5._{<50PGwXug{<97{߸\c6ۘNn^ۧ߼Pmҫܔg$eA" 9&_ I:*xjD`$pة]bR1<1{E8sUol^?xEu[3~xòC)~w:u6*L@g Hn$9ciG=;&alD!/4vwzypP9N_Ӆ~r."{Y|tx<\8,b!`]=xR>.}Pvg?U_.ID1~'W]cjk ؄"Å$>м|esC^U⢫ *UJ t_Ыg _a5ůȈ^ ^ܶ jE]]?U g9ZzznkyL>:<\<*G8g0~npHҘxXw,nj}Ñ OMze< $S'.v-E$O^ؿ8)ݫ!:o!^Ѡ,[X\.7qb"7q*0Ͻ.| DS|h*/M_ O4|/?T_' D7fFy KIENDB`D@D ^3NormalOJPJQJ_HmH sH tH F@F ^3 Heading 3$@&6CJOJQJ]DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No List44 ^3Header  !4B@4 ^3 Body TextdO B[No paragraph style]d 1$7$8$9DH$%B*CJOJQJ_HmH phsH tH W.wx  /0UV9:z{* + ,  01567DEUVY000p000(0(0(0000(000000000p000000000 000 0 0000 000 0VY @0A0h/ = UW*7WW,<|66|6$""tT""$"d"""$"d"""d""$"d"""$"d"l^"^"^"l,l(0C\\o o y k  \\fY      !"#$&%'()*+&00@T``u { bY  !"#$&%'()*+ B *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-regionV(*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PersonNamehttp://www.microsoft.com8#*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsdate;,*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsaddress8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagstime:+*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStreet9)*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStateV%*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplacehttp://www.5iantlavalamp.com/8**urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceName=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceType 011219220042005273DayHourMinuteMonthYear,+*)(,+%*#   #   % (% %*%*%%*%*#     %*%*%*%*%%*%)(.$ ) .5DMNSY?Hvx%.Y333 V17YY Karin Moodyagreena`)y fok! 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