David Zwirner gallery announced it will now officially represent Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, with his first solo exhibition planned at Zwirner's New York space. The representation deal was brokered through Nara's international agent Joe Baptista and his Equivalence Art Agency. Baptista was previously a partner at Pace Gallery, Nara's longtime representative, and his departure from Pace had not been publicly announced. Nara was also long represented by Blum Gallery, which closed earlier this year after its final Nara show in Los Angeles. Pace Gallery CEO Marc Glimcher expressed surprise but said Pace will continue to have a relationship with the artist.
This move reshapes the representation of one of the most commercially successful contemporary artists, whose auction record stands at $25 million. Nara's distinctive portraits of moody young girls have made him a global art market force, with major museum surveys at institutions including the Orange County Museum of Art, Guggenheim Bilbao, Hayward Gallery, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The shift to David Zwirner—one of the world's largest galleries—signals a significant realignment in the primary market for Nara's work and reflects ongoing consolidation and competition among top-tier galleries for blue-chip artists.