Seen: Imshu / 淫秋
Who: Nobuyoshi Araki
Where: Art Space AM, Harajuku
When: September 9 - November 11, 2016 (1-7pm, closed Mon. & Tue)
Imshu「淫秋」is the Autumn entry in the seasonally titled AM Project Araki exhibition “Im” series (淫 = lust)- This one follows the Winter - Imtou「淫冬」which was held earlier in 2016, and 2015′s Summer show, Imka「淫夏」.
The unifying theme is use of Impossible Project Film and the fact that what’s exhibited is whatever recent work Araki feels like showing. Certainly the Impossible Project is a tie that binds- in this show a wall of instant photographs can be found on one wall as well- Impossible Project photos have been sliced and paired with completely black frames. These creations reference in part to his earlier 35mm series Love on the Left Eye (Taka Ishii, 2014) , and Kirishin, (Rathole, 2014).
However, Imka is predominantly exposure to Araki’s seemingly innate talent with a brush- here he has written excerpts from Buddhist scripture- the Heart Sutra (般若心経) directly on large inkjet prints printed on Japanese paper in his own unique style. The content of the photographs themselves are representative of his recent work- black and white views of a menagerie of flowers and dolls- pictures which evoke for the photographer the concept of paradise.