Travelling Alone with the World's Sorrow "At the age 28, I was in Germany where I seemed to transcend time and space to begin a conversation with my 8-year-old self in Aomori." In the 12 years following 1988, Yoshitomo Nara travelled abroad to study at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in Germany. It was an important period of time when Yoshitomo Nara lived in Cologne, a city that has an isolated atmosphere similar to his hometown Aomori. As an adult, Yoshitomo Nara was enlightened by Neo- Expressionism and influenced by punk rock music. Under these influences, Yoshitomo Nara developed the widely popular trademark of his creative career as an artist during this time period—the portrait of an awkward little girl with angry and lonely expressions on her childish face. "There are too many occasions when people need to refrain from crying even if they really want to cry." Yoshitomo Nara had lived in Germany for as long as 12 years, where he was tens of thousands of kilometers away from home. In a place with unfamiliar language, the journey for creation was like a long-term self-exile. "I still feel inferior about the language and I feel painful when I meet other people." During that period of time, the artist's delicate inner world was expanded to reach its maximum limit. That is what led to the birth of this piece of work—the feeling of carrying the coffin on his shoulders and going away with the whole world behind him. At the same time, all of the helplessness, anger, and sadness are committed to art. "Tranquility" is the brief remark that Yoshitomo Nara made about his stay in Germany. Nevertheless, with a sensitive and introverted personality, his growth and loneliness since childhood are truthfully displayed in his works. "I only paint for myself." Like writing a diary, Yoshitomo Nara records everything that impresses him on canvas to directly express his own emotions. And this is exactly the Yoshitomo Nara that we know, with a healing power deeply rooted in his works. "I heard that dogs would not want their owners to be heartbroken about their death. Hence they would leave their familiar environment before they die and find a quiet corner to confront the arrival of death on their own." Yoshitomo Nara's creative concept for Dog with Coffin is to express the long-term companionship and intimacy between humans and pets, who do not want the other party to feel sad when the time comes to part ways. The painting expresses the dog's final contribution as it carries the coffin with its remaining energy and leaves before the end of its life. In the painting, the dog's forepaws are curved, which combine with the determined look on its face to demonstrate a pet's last chance to show loyalty after living a well-loved life. Now the dog is ready to travel alone with the world's sorrow on its shoulders. Moreover, this painting has an exceptional combination of colors. The touch of red on the dog's lips along with the two yellow shoulder straps and green shade on the ground perfectly balance out the coffin's deep and murky color. The artist applied a few seemingly simple colors to produce a highly coherent image. In addition, the artist used extremely unique bold black lines to outline the character's posture. The blank space in the background leaves viewers with infinite imaginations about "a finite life." In a difficult composition with the rule of thirds, the painting still looks vividly real and refreshing. This nicely demonstrates Yoshitomo Nara's creative skills. The portrayal of both little girls and dogs is an extension of Yoshitomo Nara's sense of inner loneliness, as well as a reflection of his pure belief in a wonderful world. "A dog's gentle, obedient characteristics often remind me of the image of children." If you follow Yoshitomo Nara, you would always find something like this auction item titled Dog with Coffin among his numerous works with little girls and dogs as themes. In these works, the character's eyes are drawn by a simple, straight line. When the line curves up, the character appears to be sleepwalking or expressing a pleasurable, satisfied emotion. A different expression in the eyes can be combined with another lip shape or body posture to present a whole different atmosphere. This work titled Dog with Coffin expresses the artist's strong nostalgia—an indescribable kind of inner loneliness that can only be expressed through painting.