September 2, 2011 |
Yes, that Araki, the super famous one, legend in his own time, one of Japan’s most important artists working today, and one of the most influential photogs of the last half century. And a 10 Contributor, naturellement. Let us fill you in:
1. Often known by just his last name, his full name is Nobuyoshi Araki.
2. Araki is extremely prolific, having published over 350 books of his work by 2005.
3. He has exhibited widely as well as having work in the collections of museums such the Tate and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and his life’s work was documented in Travis Klose’s 2005 film Arakimentari.
4. His erotically charged photographs document situations ranging from his own honeymoon to Tokyo sex clubs, geisha and bondage with a uniquely Japanese aesthetic, which sees these explicit images contrasted with tranquil shots of flowers or traditional Japanese houses.
5. The type of rope bondage used in many of Araki’s most well-known photographs is called ‘Kinbaku’…
6. To say that Araki’s work is about sex wouldn’t be telling the whole story though as his camera’s unblinking eye has also documented his wife Yoko’s death of ovarian cancer and his own recent treatment for prostate cancer in 2008, as well as the constant evolution of the city of Tokyo and the social changes in modern Japan over the last 40 years.
7. His physical appearance is distinctive, he tries intentionally to appear clownish to disarm his sitter, and when photographing naked women he himself, undresses comparing the act of taking the photograph to ‘making love’.
8. Araki collects plastic dinosaurs and lizards, which appear in some of his photographs.
9. Though much of his best known work is in black and white, in recent years he has introduced more colour, either shooting in colour film or painting Japanese characters and abstract splashes in bright ink over black and white prints.
10. In the new issue of 10 Araki has chosen to photograph our favourite pieces from Gucci’s autumn winter collection in colour, creating an enigmatic studio sitting which conveys perfectly the brand’s opulent glamour.
by Zoe Wulfsohn-Dunkley
