FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Opening May 8 - June 7, Blum & Poe will present new sculpture and drawings by Koln and Nagoya-based artist Yoshitomo Nara.

Deeply influenced and informed by manga (Japanese comics), cartoons, Disney and his studies at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, Nara's meticulously constructed sculptures suggest a comforting kind of distortion and transpose the viewer through oddly familiar territories. These formally composed sculptures express a detached, unique and complex psychology in which innocence, melancholy and cruelty are inextricably mixed.

Nara has recently shown at Galerie Johnen & Schottle in Koln with Karen Kilimnik, Galerie d'Eendt in Amsterdam with Henk Visch and Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo.

There will be a reception for the artist on Saturday, May 10, from 6-8 PM. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM - 6 PM. For further information please call Timothy Blum or Jeffrey Poe at 310 453 8311.