Yoshitomo Nara

On the F-Word, 2002, Edizione limitata di 35 esemplari di Yoshitomo Nara firmati e numerati

2002

Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959)
On the F-Word, 2002

Medium: Intaglio on paper (photogravure and aquatint; 4 plates, 7 colors)
Image: 48.7 × 38.0 cm (19 × 15 in)
Sheet: 71.4 × 56.5 cm (28 1/8 × 22 1/4 in)
Edition: A.P. 2/7; from an edition of 35 plus 7 artist’s proofs
Signature/Numbering: Signed in Japanese, dated “2002,” and numbered “A.P. 2/7” in pencil (lower margin)
Printer/Publisher: KIDO Press, Inc., Tokyo

Provenance
Gallery Tagboat, Tokyo, Japan
Acquired from the above by the previous owner
Poly Auction, Hong Kong
Acquired from the above

Literature
BSS No. E-2002-015
Catalogue raisonné No. YNF3388

Description
A small figure with cropped red hair and green eyes stands with a cool, sidelong glare atop a hand-lettered placard that spells the eponymous expletive. Two lightly sketched heads hover at left like after-images, while a skull emblem on the blue dress turns cuteness into a threat. The grain and plate tone of the photogravure, tightened by aquatint, lend the image a worn, poster-like surface. Nara’s trademark mix of childlike form and adult bite is unmistakable here: language becomes a stage for defiance, and the pint-sized protagonist asserts autonomy with a single, unblinking stare.