Nara meets Sugito: the exciting encounter between two stars from the Japanese art scene.Over the Rainbow is the first combined presentation of the work of Yoshitomo Nara und Hiroshi Sugito, who have been close friends for many years.Yoshitomo Nara (born in 1959) is regarded as one of Japan's foremost contemporary artists and has attained a cult status in his homeland that is hardly imaginable for Europeans. His paintings and drawings of children with grim gazes, which recall the tradition of popular mangas, are among the most coveted items on the international art world. His former student Hiroshi Sugito (born in 1970) has enjoyed an excellent reputation for many years. Sugito's delicate, finely painted works are more subtle and combine influences of Eastern and Western painting: Zen meets Pop.The two artists completed the first of their joint works in 1997 and developed the idea for a joint exhibition and book project entitled Over the Rainbow that same year. The project was realized in the summer of 2004, when Yoshitomo Nara and Hiroshi Sugito were invited by the Austrian Galerie Belvedere to live and work in Vienna for three months. Over the Rainbow documents the results of their visit and the exciting encounter of two outstanding artists.