Nara was born in Hirosaki, a village located in the northern prefecture of Aomori, Japan. After obtaining a Masters in Fine Arts from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Nagoya, Japan in 1987, Nara moved to Germany to study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, from which he graduated in 1993. Until 2000, Nara continued to live and work in Germany before returning to Japan, and is currently based out of Tokyo. Nara’s artwork primarily features depictions of children with oversized heads, in a style directly influenced by children’s book illustrations. His children are often sullen and angry, imbued with the angst and rebellion of Nara’s Punk rock influence. Nara’s work spans a diverse range of media, from postcards to canvas paintings to three-dimensional sculptural works, and has acquired a cult-like following as varied as his methods. Selected Public Collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA The British Museum, London, England Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga, Malaga, Spain Selected Solo Exhibitions: “Wonder Room” Space to Space, Nagoya, Japan, 1984 “Harmlos” Kinderspielhaus, Dusseldorf, Germany, 1991 “Pacific Babies” Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, California, USA, 1995 “No They Didn’t” Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 1999 “Walk On” the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA，2000 “Who Snatched the Babies?” CNEAI, Chatou, France, 2002 “From the Depth of My Drawer” Toured in Japan and Korea, 2004-2005 “Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool” Asia Society Museum, New York, 2010