Beyond Superflat: Nara’s new chapter

By Gabrielle Stein

The eyes are the windows to the soul is a metaphor encapsulating the work of Japan’s fastest growing and most successful contemporary artist: Yoshimoto Nara. Cartoon figures recognised by their hypnotising, contemplative and often audacious facial expressions have become internationally renowned, signalling the beginning of a new chapter for Japanese contemporary art. The result: a painting sold for £20 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and Nara celebrated as the most expensive Japanese artist of all time.

Nara is part of the Superflat generation, founded by the iconic Takashi Murakami. The postmodern art movement is named appropriately, characterised by its two-dimensional surfaces and flat planes of colour. Superflat artworks are glossy and electronic, fuelled by their post-war Japanese digital influences: anime, manga and video games. Murakami’s characters are archetypal of the genre, from the kawaii inspired duo Kaikai and Kiki to the robotic cat Doraemon. These figures become repeated motifs in Murakami’s work, developing even into commercial merchandise such as toys and T-shirts. Whilst Nara’s works are certainly aligned with this cartoon-like style, he blends fine art with pop culture in a more intimate way, the salient difference being that Superflat is universal whereas Nara’s work is personal.

The gallery bursts with imagery from Nara’s childhood, notably his penchant for punk.

Nara’s recent solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery illustrates this distinction between the universal and personal. The gallery bursts with imagery from Nara’s childhood, notably his penchant for punk. Placed haphazardly in the centre of the space is a rickety shed exploding with visual media, accompanied by the rasping tones of Nick Drake and David Bowie. The viewer peers through the shed windows, confronted by a treasure trove of tattered objects and scattered drawings. This installation piece is a triumph, revealing otherwise unknown details of Nara’s character and therefore forging a connection between artist and viewer.

Behind the shed looms an immense grid stretching across the entire back wall of the gallery. Made up of 352 records from Nara’s personal collection, the piece creates a parallel as one creative process inspires another. This installation is unlike the rest of the work on display; Nara’s distinctive cartoon figures are absent, yet the work still carries weight as we explore what Nara listens to as he creates. Once again, we are brought closer to the inner musings of the artist at work. 

The rest of the exhibition space is dominated by various iterations of the classic Nara figure. Inspired by memories of his childhood in rural Japan, the artist’s characters are burdened by loneliness, rage and sadness – layers of meaning that are wholly absent from the crisp perfection of Superflat work. One of the most emotionally charged pieces on view is Dead Flower. It is difficult to know where to begin with this painting. From the glow of the menacing eyes, one orange and one green, to the jagged knife and the equally jagged teeth dripping with blood; the overall impression is haunting. However, the demonic child is also presented as humorously brazen with a cheeky grin and vulgar “Fuck you” inscription. In fact, these children were not designed to be threatening: ‘I kind of see the children among other, bigger, bad people… who are holding bigger knives’ says Nara. The weapon paintings, then, are not about violence. They are amusing and slightly audacious recreations of childhood emotion, depicting the frustrations of those who are small in a violent world.

Bursting with rage, sadness, fear and frustration

Alongside sardonic rage, Nara also uses his practice to call for peace. Following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake that damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Nara has campaigned against nuclear weapons. Large parts of the artist’s home were devastated by nuclear damage, which clearly took an emotional toll: ‘Now, even in this very moment, there is a bomb exploding somewhere in the world… “STOP THE BOMBS!” I feel this from the bottom of my heart.’ The resulting paintings, Stop the Bombs and No Warare compelling, expressing profound sorrow and desperation. 

Nara’s characters are more than two-dimensional. They are bursting with rage, sadness, fear and frustration. The artist’s style is rooted in Superflat but he is undeniably carving out a new chapter in Japanese contemporary art: activist as well as artist. 

Image credit: Dead Flower, by Yoshimoto Nara, 1994. My Drawing Room 2008, Bedroom Included, by Yoshimoto Nara, 2008. Record Wall Installation, 2025. Photographed by Gabrielle Stein, 2025. Courtesy of Hayward Gallery, London.