The Pond Girl

“It began with a small puddle in my heart where rain was falling incessantly. I swam in this small world like a tadpole. As rain kept falling, the puddle became larger, eventually joining the neighbouring puddle. The puddles formed stronger connections, and there were times when I could not keep pace with their growth, but it made me happy nevertheless.” — Yoshitomo Nara

I have been collecting for fifty-five years. I began with toys, and then vintage Barbie doll, Mickey Mouse in 1930’s and even antiquities. Fifty years ago, I bought an Andy Warhol work when I walked pass Gallery Watari, and it was for two times my annual salary then and I thought it will work somehow! After that I got to know Christie’s, andthe auction company opened the door for me to the art world. I was able to handle works that I had only seen in museums, with a price attached. The auction catalogues were like art books, and I learned about 20th century modern art from Christie’s. There is a spendinglimit for me, hence I could only buy one to two works every year. My price range cannot afford the works that were illustrated in art books, therefore I went for works of my own taste. I have decorated my home with the works I bought for over ten years (and visitors would comment on the works ten years later thinking that they saw them in my house before and it was amazing.) Even if the works may haveno value in the future, at least I have used them to decorate my home and it is worth the cost. My collection includes Keith Haring, Banksy, Henry Darger to Liu Wei. No matter how much I like the works I could still trade them in for new works, as it is necessary to buy new works. New artist acquisitions is like a dream come true to me, and beingable to continue my collecting journey. It is a special feeling to include contemporary art in my collection, it took me by surprise but also necessary to myself.

In the late 1990s, which was a different period to the 1980s boom, the jellybean-shaped eyes of the rebellious kids hit my heart. I saw that there was a show in Hakutosha Gallery in Nagoya so I went in the morning on the very first day. There were around twenty works in the show and of course the well-known Nara jellybean-shaped eyes and mischievous face was what I was looking for, but the exhibition was almost sold out already on the first day morning! (Red in Blue) was the only work that was still available and that’s how we met. Althoughit wasn’t the most desirable work to me in the show, I still asked for it because I knew it was very difficult to get the best works from the gallery, and I really liked Nara so I wanted to get any work so that I could run into more paintings by Nara in the future! So I have been looking for his works and later I bought The Pond Girl, which is a very rare oil painting.

- Mr. Hiromichi Nakano, May 8th, 2024