Book Yoshitomo Nara

You know the kids. Big heads, wider eyes, and a stare that says they've seen some things. Yoshitomo Nara's pint-size rebels are some of the most beloved images in contemporary art, and this book is the fullest invitation yet into the world that made them.

Inside the book

• Spans four decades of Nara's work, organized by theme rather than chronology
• Yeewan Koon traces how his singular aesthetic grew from his formative years in Japan and his ties to the northern Tohoku region, where he grew up
• Barry Schwabsky goes deep on Nara as a painter, illustrated with details of the artworks

Why it belongs on your coffee table

Behind the adorable is something wiser. Nara's characters carry big themes, home, isolation, resilience, belonging, hope, and freedom, which is probably why guests pick this one up and start flipping through it. Equal parts serious art scholarship and pure browsing pleasure, it works for the collector who owns a Nara and the friend who just thinks the kids on the cover look like trouble.

For the Nara-obsessed and the just-Nara-curious, this is the keeper.