Japanese Modernism Across Media

The Beauty of Kinks

Kinbaku - Nobuyoshi Araki from abril on Vimeo.

Despite all the controversies centering on his works, Araki's mastery in producing beautiful images with sophisticated symbolism is however undeniable. From flowers to monsters, Kinbaku to Kimono, nuanced sentiments to plain obscenity, the richness in Araki's photos call for the audiance's careful reading into the artist's world.

Kinbaku

Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled (Eros Diary)

Watermelon Girl

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The cover of Last Year 2001

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Two pages from Tokyo Nude (1989)

Diptychs as the Format

In many of Araki's publications, such as Erotos, Flowers in Ruins, Last Year 2001, Tokyo Nude, etc., close-ups of body parts are always juxtaposed with either plants, animals, or landscapes in two contiguous pages as diptychs (pictures hinged on two panels like a book, the two leaves usually serve as alternatives of each other).

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Kekkai, 2010. Nobuyoshi Araki

Two picture samples from Flowers in Ruins showing the juxtaposition of female bodies and plants/animal shaped objects

Artistic Themes & Motifs

The following example is from one of Araki's recent books, It Was Once A Paradise, published by Reflex Editions in 2012. In this picture, a color photograph of a semi-nude woman in bondage is juxtaposed with a still life monochrome taken on his Tokyo balcony: the site of his former private paradise haunted by his deceased wife Yoko and his cat Chiro. "Nostalgic ruins contrast with erotic hope, forming a contrast that is echoed in the packaging of the book, which has been designed to be read in either direction, and comes with a choice of two different dust jackets."