Re-seen (for the third time): Nobuyoshi Araki’s 往生写集 Ojo Shashu: Photography for the Afterlife - Eastern Sky, PARADISE。
When: October 22 - December 25, 2014 (Closed Mondays and public holidays)
Where: Shiseido Gallery, Ginza (Google streetview)
The final installment of Araki’s Ojo Shashu can be found in Ginza at the bottom of a narrow flight of stairs that lead into the Shiseido Gallery. The show is comprised of eighty-one images from three seperate series- none of the images have appeared in any of the previous exhibits of OjoShashu- the first being at the Toyota City Museum of Art in Aichi prefecture (Araki walk-through), and the second at the Nigata City Art Museum in Nigata.
The Ojo Shashu exhibition catalogue, a thick and wonderfully produced publication, is my favorite photobook of 2014. For this Ginza show, Shiseido has published a slim companion (only 1200 yen!) that is only available in their gallery while supplies last.
I’ve been to dozens of Araki’s exhibitions in the past ten years and as you can imagine encountering his photos in person in a gallery or museum is unlike any other photographic viewing experience you’ll have anywhere else.
I’ve been to this show three times- the Ginza street work in particular stops me dead in my tracks- It simultaneously makes me want to go out shooting and never touch a camera again. Those huge prints are portals.