Seen: Reiwa Ukiyo Shashin 令和浮世写真
Who: Nobuyoshi Araki 荒木経惟
Where: Mitsukoshi department store, Nihonbashi
When: August 21 - 26, 2019
“Ukiyo Photographs of Reiwa” is another exhibition of Nobuyoshi Araki’s calligraphy-over-picture work. Following a deep tradition of classical Japanese art he has written excerpts of poems over pictures- ones he has taken of the bizarre flower-worlds he creates at his studio at home. The large inkjet prints are done on washi paper- a surface that is fitting for sumi ink. In addition to several shows in Tokyo, 2019 has seen a number of international exhibitions of Araki’s work- with major shows in Berlin, Italy, Spain, China, and later this month, Thailand.
This particular venue is an interesting one- it’s the Mitsukoshi department store art gallery, located on the 6th floor of their main building. Getting to the gallery itself means one passes through such a concentration of material wealth (both on the racks and on the customers) that if the store’s frigid air conditioning doesn’t chill you, the price tags will.
A rare watch fair happened to be held during my visit- like cameras, there is a culture of shops that are more than happy to let you can spend as much as you like on a luxury watch. With a mixture of nattily dressed old men, thirty-something otaku, and young Chinese buyers in Gucci / Supreme gear on gold iPhones, the clientele there did not seem too different in spirit as the fellows I see at camera fairs.
The visitors there with me mostly the type of older married couples who go to Mitsukoshi together on a Saturday afternoon. I’ve been to dozens of Araki exhibitions in Tokyo but this one had the most octogenarians peering close at the pictures with a grin.
The gallery itself is luxurious and lushly carpeted. There are sofas and chairs to sit in and the impeccably dressed & mannered staff are there to personally assist in purchasing art- or give you a postcard for the show. Since the prints were nearly $10,000 each, I went home with a postcard.