From 1 to 6 April, immediately after the Hong Kong Art Month this March, Poly Auction Hong Kong is going to present the Spring Auctions at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Led by Yoshitomo Nara’s “Acid M. J.” and the most sought-after red “Pumpkin” and “Infinity Nets” works by Yayoi Kusama, the Modern and Contemporary Art Department will bring a selection of artworks which encapsulates a century of Asian art history at a time. Yoshitomo Nara’s first FRP sculpture created, “Cup Kids” and Ayako Rokkaku’s “Little Girl with Animals” are added to the line-up. Together, they converge to become a strong force of Japanese contemporary artists for this upcoming auction.
LARRY’S LIST guides you to read on to find out more about these top five lots by three of the most sought-after contemporary Japanese artists.
YOSHITOMO NARA
Acid M. J., 2009
acrylic on canvas
80.4 x 65.2 cm. (31 ½ x 25 ½ in.)
Estimate: HKD 34,000,000 – 44,000,000
Yoshitomo Nara is a pioneering figure in contemporary art, with his introspective works drawing from his own experiences and emotions. Despite Nara’s well-known love for music, has rarely done portraits on canvas of specific solo musicians and namedrop them in his titles. Therefore, this work “Acid M. J.” is exceptional and is the only canvas work that has the musician’s name in the title, an explicit tribute to Michael Jackson. While Michael Jackson was a legendary musician, Yoshitomo Nara is similarly a pioneering figure in his field of art and his works are introspective, drawing from his own experiences and emotions influenced by Western music.The figure in the portrait is not only a tribute and an introspection of Michael Jackson but can be interpreted to reveal a self-portrait of Nara himself through the exploration of isolation and creative catharsis that links the two together. The technique of layering short strokes of paint in different shades, akin to that of the Impressionists, is applied in “Acid M. J.” to showcase Michael Jackson’s iconic waves and the baby curls in the bangs; it gives the painting an illusion of light and movement.
YOSHITOMO NARA
Cup Kids, 1995
acrylic, lacquer and cotton on FRP sculpture
95 x 95 x 105 cm. (37 ½ x 37 ½ x 41 ¼ in.)
Estimate: HKD 5,000,000 – 8,000,000
Yoshitomo Nara is definitely one of the most sought-after artists in the world. Made with fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) in 1995, “Cup Kids” was the first of Nara’s unique sculptural works depicting the head of a little girl, which launched Nara’s series of seven works of popular FRP sculptures, focusing on the theme of the head of the little girl and a cup. The work has been featured in various major exhibitions, including an event in the Nagoya City Art Museum in 1995 and Nara’s solo exhibition “Lullaby Supermarket” at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 2000.
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 2005
acrylic on canvas
91.5 x 73.2 cm. (36 x 29 in.)
Estimate: HKD 25,000,000 – 35,000,000
One of the leading female artists of our time, Yayoi Kusama has dedicated her life to her art. Throughout the past few decades of her career, the iconic motifs of the nets and dots have always been how she adapted and challenged herself. She started exploring the pumpkin motif again after returning from New York to Japan in 1973, combining both nets and dots this time around. The current lot is an extraordinary work combining her signature motifs of the pumpkin, nets, and dots, which is also a rare, large-scale canvas of her “Pumpkin” series—showing her mature techniques and her ability to create continuously.
YAYOI KUSAMA
Infinity Nets, 1999
acrylic on canvas
45.8 x 53 cm. (18 x 21 in.)
Estimate: HKD 2,100,000 – 3,100,000
On the plane when Yayoi Kusama was moving to New York in 1958, she was fascinated by the vast Pacific Ocean which ultimately led to the start of her iconic Infinity Nets series in 1960s, which became increasingly varied in colours, creating a more exciting visual experience. Later on, her infinity nets from the 1990s and 2000s transcended to resemble a galaxy that has no end and exist beyond the canvas. This lot painted in gold and silver is a shimmering representation of the artist’s most iconic series. The repetition of the obsessive looping brushstrokes is part of her never-ending quest to express infinity.
AYAKO ROKKAKU
Little Girl with Animals, 2009
acrylic on canvas
100.7 x 150.3 cm. (39 ½ x 59 in.)
Estimate: HKD 1,500,000 – 3,000,000
Japanese female artist Ayako Rokkaku has established herself in the contemporary art scene with her unique and iconic artistic language of finger painting, that creates a fascinating world of colorful art. Being completely self-taught, she has always been able to retain the most sincere and pure sentiments in her creations. This painting depicts a fairytale forest-like atmosphere with rich and large color blocks and lines. Each part of the picture is filled with different ingenuity, and the lines and texture of the paint alone give each area a different kind of detail that attracts people’s attention.
Poly Auction Hong Kong Spring Auctions 2023
Preview
1 – 5 April 2023
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai
Auction
Modern and Contemporary Art
Grand Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai
6 April 2023 (Thursday), 11:00am
