Nara is renowned for his love of Manga and Pop Art, yet a 2007 residency in Shigaraki – a centre of Japanese ceramics – led him to an unexpected new medium: clay. Exhibited at Tokyo's Tomio Koyama Gallery, 161 Nara ceramics are presented in this book, photographed for large format by friend and collaborator Chie Morimoto. Hand-painted and made with traditional pottery wheels, these bowls, vases and plates then break with the past; irreverent eyes, faces and texts are everywhere, epitomising Nara's key contrasts of innocence and malice, playfulness and hostility.

96 p, ills colour, 28 x 30 cm, pb, Japanese/English