An Evening with the Minds Behind "Life is Only One"
VIEW EVENT DETAILSEvening Conversation with Artist Yoshitomo Nara and Fumio Nanjo, Guest Curator, "Life is Only One: Yoshitomo Nara"
Registration at 6.15pm
Lecture at 6.30pm
Close at 8pm
Limited seats. First-come, first-served basis.
*Conducted in Japanese with English and Cantonese simultaneous interpretation
English Simulcast at Miller Theater*
*Due to the overwhelming response received from the program, we will be livestreaming the program (with English interpretation) at Miller Theater. Audience at the simulcast will not be able to participate in the Q&A with speakers.
Life is Only One: Yoshitomo Nara is the first major solo exhibition of the renowned Japanese artist in Hong Kong. The exhibition title comes from one of Nara’s paintings, Life Is Only One! A provocative declaration – but of what? Guest Curator Fumio Nanjo and artist Yoshitomo Nara will discuss the curatorial approach of the exhibition, how the broad selection of works together presents a journey into the artist’s open-ended interpretation of “life”; and how the endearing big-headed girls prompt audiences to continue questioning bigger philosophical issues, inviting them to give in to their imaginations and engage in an honest dialogue with the artist’s creativeness and his world.
Yoshitomo Nara was born in Hirosaki, Aomori in 1959. He completed his Master's Degree at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in 1987. In 1988, Nara moved to Germany to study at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (State Academy of Arts) and attained the title “Meisterschüler” (master pupil) under A.R. Penck. He lived and worked in Cologne from 1994 to 2000. Also, Nara taught at University of California, Los Angeles for 3 months as a guest professor in 1998. The artist lived and worked in Tokyo after returned to Japan in 2000, and moved to Tochigi in 2005.
Through his impressionable works depicting children and animals in forms ranging from paintings and drawings, to three-dimensional works employing FRP, ceramic, bronze, to large-scale installations, Nara continues to attract audience internationally and stands to be one of Japan’s representative artists of our time.
Fumio Nanjo is the Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo since 2006 and holds various positions on public and private boards and committees including Vice-Presidency of the Association International des Critiques d 'Art (AICA) and Membership of the Board of the Comite International des Muses d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (IMAM). He is also involved in the selection committees of several art awards and artist-in-residence programs.
A renowned veteran curator with over 20 years of arts experience and worked in various significant roles at numerous biennales worldwide including: commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1997); commissioner of the Taipei Biennale (1998); jury member of the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London (1998); co-curator of the 3rd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (1999); member of the selection committee of the Sydney Biennale (2000); specialist for the Japan Pavilion at EXPO 2000 in Hanover; artistic co-director of the Yokohama Triennale (2001); jury member of the Golden Lion Prize, Venice Biennale (2005); artistic director, Singapore Biennale (2006).
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