Yoshitomo Nara's first major New York solo show in a decade, at David Zwirner

Yoshitomo Nara's round-headed children, with their huge eyes and moods that swing from mischief to melancholy, are probably more familiar than his name. Architectural Digest traces how they travel: from thrift-shop ashtrays and band-aids to billionaire collections, celebrity gardens and auction rooms. Phillips' Takako Nagasawa puts the pull down to a two-sidedness, figures that look cute until you notice the knife behind a back.

The news for visitors is David Zwirner1's exhibition, Nara's first major solo show in New York in over a decade and his first with the gallery. He curated it himself, spreading paintings, drawings and sculpture across Zwirner's two Chelsea spaces. Early work from his student years in Düsseldorf in the 1980s and 1990s hangs beside recent pieces to show how drawing runs through his career. There are also 13 oversized bronze heads, enlarged from small clay models inspired by the snow 'monsters' of his childhood winters in rural northern Japan.

In Washington, D.C., three larger aluminium versions of those heads stand in the newly reopened Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden2. The article gives no closing date for the Zwirner show, so check before you go. Worth a visit whether you know Nara from museums or from a dorm-room poster.

Our summary of a story from Architectural Digest, published 4 November 2026. Read the original