Skip to main content
Label Text Nara came to international attention during the 1990s, when Japanese Pop art gained worldwide notice. Influenced by both Japanese anime and manga and Western animation and comics, Nara's art seems to portray a playful world of vulnerable cartoon characters. However, his figures usually carry a dark or somber tone alongside their innocence, and this subversive mixture of darkness and youth plays a critical role in Nara's art. These knowing innocents, or "demon children" as they have been called, are often little girls. White Ghost may refer to the artist's own personal history - his parents expected him to be a girl, and he lost an older sister at birth. "Emotionally," he says "part of me resembles a little girl."
Published References"John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park", Lea Rosson DeLong, ed., Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1923, pp. 98-101, details, pp. 6, 144
DimensionsOverall (Sculpture): 144 × 102 × 66 in., 900 lb. (365.8 × 259.1 × 167.6 cm, 408.2 kg.)
Overall (Base): 24 × 96 × 96 in., 5500 lb. (61 × 243.8 × 243.8 cm, 2494.8 kg.)
Accession Number 2011.5
Classificationssculpture
Edition2/3 with 2 AP
Provenance(Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 2011]

Images (1)

Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines

Audio (2)

White Ghost
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines