Seen: AI エレジー / AI Elegy
Who: Nobuyoshi Araki 荒木経惟
Where: Art Space AM, Harajuku (map)
When: October 10 - November 30, 2018 (Open 1-7pm. Closed Mon. & Tue. & 10/19-21, 11/14)
Art Space AM in Harajuku has since 2016 consistently shown Araki’s latest works with no more than a few weeks break between exhibitions. The latest, AI Elegy, is of familiar recent Araki work- the bulk of the show consists of color 6x7 still lifes printed large on washi paper. Having long ceased the work he’s famous/infamous for, Araki’s bizarre “Paradise” pictures have been a staple of his output since 2015. While earlier pictures were a surreal and vibrant jumble of vegetation and toy figures, these new pictures are sparsely constructed.
The most important pieces in the show however are two enormous panels of Polaroids. Each is composed of 99 individual pictures- deftly edited by Hisako Motoo, AM’s director and longtime collaborator and (second best, after Araki,) editor/publisher of his work. Her curation of these pieces and the “gap” they possess is representative of her editing style in the many books of his she has published over the years.
At first glance it’s apparent enough- one is “red” and the other “blue”. In the Red are flowers, women. In Blue, the sky. Seems simple enough.
But with a closer look gradually you realize that there’s nothing completely red in that piece– nor is the blue panel specifically “blue”. With the right consideration, standing before the work you come to understand that in red there’s blue- and in blue, plenty of red. Nothing’s purely one thing or the other. Araki has always anchored his work in dichotomy- that of life & death, eros & thanatos, color & monochrome, high and low art—and truth & lies.