About the artwork
Created in 1999, ‘Slash with a Knife’ forms part of the ‘In the Floating World’ series, one of the most iconic by Yoshitomo Nara, a leading figure on the contemporary Japanese art scene and heir to the Superflat movement launched by Takashi Murakami. The work depicts a young girl with an innocent appearance, holding a gleaming knife, her face partially in shadow and her eyes filled with a strange determination. The handwritten inscription in red, ‘Slash with a knife’, literally ‘Cut with a knife’, creates a striking contrast between the childlike aesthetic and the underlying tension of violence. The textured surface, touches of watercolour and spontaneous typography evoke both the world of cartoons and that of graffiti. By blurring the boundaries between gentleness and menace, Nara evokes the silent anger and loneliness of youth, recurring themes in her work.
Expert opinion
Slash with a Knife incarne la dualité qui définit tout le travail de Yoshitomo Nara : un équilibre subtil entre tendresse et rébellion, entre le monde intérieur de l’enfant et la brutalité du monde adulte. L’artiste parvient, à travers des visages faussement candides, à exprimer une mélancolie universelle et une rage contenue. Cette lithographie rare, issue de la fin des années 1990, marque un moment charnière dans la carrière de Nara, où il affine son langage visuel et émotionnel. Véritable icône de la culture pop japonaise, cette œuvre conjugue intimité, ironie et force poétique, confirmant Nara comme l’un des artistes les plus sensibles et incisifs de sa génération.
About the artist
Yoshitomo Nara is a Japanese painter born in 1959. In his artistic practice, he draws inspiration from three elements that lulled his childhood: solitude, manga and Western music. Introduced to pop art in the 1990s, he joined the Superflat movement with Mukarami and Chiho Aoshima. His works often feature childlike, kawaii figures, marked by dark humor and a certain cynicism. He sometimes places weapons in the hands of the children he depicts, enabling them to defend themselves against dangerous forces. Today, he is the Japanese artist whose work sells at the highest prices, and has been exhibited at MoMA in New York, Galerie Kaikai Kiki in Tokyo and Galerie Blum and Poe in Los Angeles.
Additional info
Signed
Dated
3x
OTHER ARTWORKS YOU MAY LIKE
Your Dynamic Snippet will be displayed here...
This message is displayed because you did not provide both a filter and a template to use.