Yoshitomo Nara: Sentinels of Stillness

Yoshitomo Nara: Sentinels of Stillness inaugurates the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden’s West Lawn with three monumental sculptures by globally renowned Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. The exhibition explores the relationship between Nara’s life experience and the premodern sculptural practice of hand-building with clay, while inviting visitors to pause, contemplate, and engage with the works’ forms and changing play of light.

The installation features enlarged aluminum sculptures based on small clay heads Nara created in 2021. Coated in white urethane paint, the towering figures evoke snowdrifts from the artist’s childhood winters and express his intention to promote a spirit of peace. The exhibition will be accompanied by free public tours and art education programs.

When: October 31, 2026–November 7, 2027

Venue: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Sculpture Garden West Lawn

Tickets: Price not available

Works: *Long Tall Peace Sister* (2025), *Smiling* (2025), and *Tiny Bright Round Eyes* (2025)

Artist: Yoshitomo Nara

Organizer: Hirshhorn curator Anne Reeve

Tours and education: Free public tours and art education are planned in connection with the exhibition.

Background: Nara was born in 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts from Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, he studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany and later relocated to Cologne. Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster, Nara turned more deeply to sculpture after being unable to paint, hand-molding clay and experimenting with bronze casting for the first time. His sculptural practice later developed into the enlarged works presented in this exhibition.

Recent exhibitions: Nara’s major retrospective exhibitions have included presentations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Aomori Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Museum Frieder Burda, and Hayward Gallery in London.