Ukiyo-e portrait print
of kubuki actor
Ichikawa Ebizō,
1794

Katsushika Hokusai
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1831
Collection of the British Museum, London
As a pioneering figure in contemporary art, Japanese visual artist Yoshitomo Nara is renowned for his multidisciplinary practice that explores themes of solitude, spirituality, and childlike rebellion. In the Floating World presents the viewer with altered reproductions of sixteen famous woodblock prints from the traditional Japanese genre of Ukiyo-e. Widely popular during the Edo period (1603-1868), Ukiyo-e artists created works that showcased the joie de vivre attitude of the people and environments in the cities’ pleasure districts. In particular, this included sumo-wrestlers, courtesans, warriors, teahouse mistresses, and other characters from the literature and folklore of the time. Nara’s versions share unique tales of their own, as he infuses traditional aesthetics with his prolific artistic vision to offer new interpretations, such as in the reworked woodcut by Chōkōsai Eishō where the head of the courtesan Shiratsuyu is replaced with that of a mischievous child, and the courtesan’s hairpins have been substituted for nails dripping in blood. Some of the appropriated prints are humorous whilst others offer a more critical social comment, led by protagonists who are rendered in Nara’s signature cartoon-esque aesthetic, with looks of defiance, melancholy, or confusion on their otherwise too-cute faces. As embodied in the playful nature of the present work, is through these subjects that Nara has enthralled the imaginations and garnered the respect of museums, collectors, and a loyal following worldwide.