Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Seen: 恋夢 愛無 “Love-Dream, Love-Nothing”
Who: Nobuyoshi Araki
Where:Takai Ishii Gallery Tokyo, Roppongi
When: May 25 – Jun 23, 2018
Araki’s twenty-sixth solo show at Taka Ishii gallery consisted of ninety-eight 16x20 prints of recent 6x7 photographs. The designer of the accompanying photobook also created the layout of the exhibition and he was able to match the intelligence and wit of the photographer in arrangements and pairings that brought out the best in the series. His work is a continuation of continuing- a devotion to film and unadorned, direct photography at, for better or worse, the interest of little else. I think the single thing which everyone can agree on in regards to Araki is that there won’t be another one like him ever again.
The gallery’s website says that his
…unshaken insistence on photographing with film stems from the conviction that the emotions Araki holds dear (love, compassion, affection) can only be captured on the emulsion surface of photographic film.
“Love-Dream, Love-Nothing” is a condensation of the artist’s latest work and a strong assertion that “the ultimate photograph is black-and-white”.
Araki’s work since late 2016 can be divided into five distinct categories:
1. Still lives of flowers and bizarre toys arranged on his balcony.
2. Close-ups of food or meals. Often with bizarre toys nearby.
3. Street scenes from his immediate neighborhood (and from taxi windows).
4. Images made during commissioned high-fashion magazine studio shoots with professional models.
5. Images made during his commissioned “Erotic Housewives” magazine serialization shoots. The women seen- and there have been over seven hundred in the 21 years he has been doing this project- are applicants who have applied/continue to apply to be photographed by Araki (with releases and payments, of course).
- - - - - -
Other observations:
1. Opening night (his 78th birthday party) the gallery was jammed full of well-wishers, writers, editors, publishers, collectors, former models, and a famous actress (whom he once made a book of). I noticed that a majority of the people there that night were women.
2. I also noticed that in each of the following three other times I stopped by this exhibition over the month it was up, the majority of the visitors in the gallery were young women.
3. That was a pretty cool birthday cake.