Yoshitomo Nara

“When something like an earthquake or a war causes total devastation, it can temporarily illuminate things that are usually kept in the dark. There are so many things we can learn from that. I’ve never experienced war, but I think the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident played the same kind of role for me.”

—Yoshitomo Nara

Fair Warning is pleased to announce the sale of a celebrated painting by Yoshitomo Nara that marks a defining moment in the artist's career. In the Milky Lake / Thinking One is the only major work Nara produced in 2011, the year of Japan's devastating Tōhoku earthquake. In the wake of the tragedy that struck his home region, Nara shifts away from the confrontational children that had defined his output, towards introspective, serene figures.

Widely regarded as one of the most significant paintings of Nara's career, it remains one of his largest to this day. The work appeared in every major Nara retrospective of the last decade, from his encompassing Japanese survey of 2012 (Yokohama, Aomori and Kumamoto) to his more recent traveling retrospective: LACMA, Guggenheim Bilbao, Museum Frieder Burda and the Hayward Gallery. Published in each accompanying catalogue, the artist also chose to include it in his definitive collection of works published in 2015.

Ahead of the November auction, Nara inaugurates the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden's West Lawn with "Sentinels of Stillness," an exhibition of three monumental artworks that opens on October 31 and runs through the fall of 2027.

Fair Warning is a highly curated auction platform offering one lot at a time. Exceptionally bringing our next lot to the public in a space inspired by the tranquility of a Japanese temple. The pop up exhibition space has been specially designed to fit the painting and create a place of respite, allowing viewers a quiet moment with the work, before it is sold in a live auction next Thursday, November 19th at 5pm EST, on the Fair Warning app.