Untitled (Eye Patch)

The manga and anime of Nara's 1960s childhood are key influences on his stylized, large-eyed figures. Nara has also cited other sources of inspiration that encompass Renaissance painting, contemporary literature, illustration, ukiyo-e and graffiti. However, perhaps most significantly, Nara’s upbringing in post-World War II Japan profoundly affected his artistic practice, since it was in this period that Japan experienced an inundation of Western pop culture, from comic books to Walt Disney animation to Western rock music. References to this experience regularly feature in his work.