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Araki: Impossible Love: Vintage Photographs
"A visual autobiography of a singular, subversive life in art” ― AnOther This book combines Araki’s early Tokyo series with a selection of his recent Polaroid collages and newly developed slide shows―all of them exploring the contradictions between anonymity and intimacy, the public and private sphere, reality and dream.
Araki is one of the most influential and widely discussed artists today, legendary for his radical and realistic treatment of nudity, sexuality and the body. Together with Nan Goldin, Larry Clark and Boris Mikhailov, Araki is considered one of the pioneers of intimate subjective photography.
Born in Tokyo in 1940, Nobuyoshi Araki worked in advertising after completing his studies in photography and film at Chiba University in Tokyo; he devoted himself exclusively to photography from the mid-1960s. Araki’s oeuvre spans erotic portraits of women, artificial still lifes, images of plants, documentary-style depictions of everyday life, and architectural photography, as well as diaristic photos of himself and his deceased wife, Yoko. He has published around 400 books, shown in many international exhibitions and his work is part of important collections worldwide. Araki lives and works in Tokyo.
Araki is one of the most influential and widely discussed artists today, legendary for his radical and realistic treatment of nudity, sexuality and the body. Together with Nan Goldin, Larry Clark and Boris Mikhailov, Araki is considered one of the pioneers of intimate subjective photography.
Born in Tokyo in 1940, Nobuyoshi Araki worked in advertising after completing his studies in photography and film at Chiba University in Tokyo; he devoted himself exclusively to photography from the mid-1960s. Araki’s oeuvre spans erotic portraits of women, artificial still lifes, images of plants, documentary-style depictions of everyday life, and architectural photography, as well as diaristic photos of himself and his deceased wife, Yoko. He has published around 400 books, shown in many international exhibitions and his work is part of important collections worldwide. Araki lives and works in Tokyo.
- GenresPhotography
367 pages, Hardcover
Published March 19, 2019
28 people want to read
About the author
Nobuyoshi Araki
414 books79 followersNobuyoshi Araki is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He is also known by the nickname Arākī.
Araki studied photography during his college years and then went to work at the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki. After they were married, Araki published a book of pictures of his wife taken during their honeymoon titled Sentimental Journey. She later died in 1990. Pictures taken during her last days were published in a book titled Winter Journey.
Having published over 350 books (and still more every year) Araki is considered one of the most prolific artists alive or dead in Japan and around the world. Many of his photographs are erotic; some have been called pornographic. Some of his most popular photography books are Sentimental Journey, Tokyo Lucky Hole, and Shino. He also contributed photography to the Sunrise anime series Brain Powerd.
The Icelandic musician Björk is an admirer of Araki's work, and served as one of his models. At her request he photographed the cover and inner sleeve pages of her 1997 remix album, Telegram.
Araki's life and work were the subject of Travis Klose's 2005 documentary film Arakimentari.
Araki studied photography during his college years and then went to work at the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki. After they were married, Araki published a book of pictures of his wife taken during their honeymoon titled Sentimental Journey. She later died in 1990. Pictures taken during her last days were published in a book titled Winter Journey.
Having published over 350 books (and still more every year) Araki is considered one of the most prolific artists alive or dead in Japan and around the world. Many of his photographs are erotic; some have been called pornographic. Some of his most popular photography books are Sentimental Journey, Tokyo Lucky Hole, and Shino. He also contributed photography to the Sunrise anime series Brain Powerd.
The Icelandic musician Björk is an admirer of Araki's work, and served as one of his models. At her request he photographed the cover and inner sleeve pages of her 1997 remix album, Telegram.
Araki's life and work were the subject of Travis Klose's 2005 documentary film Arakimentari.
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January 11, 2021
Nobuyoshi Araki's long career in photography is not without controversy. He has been recently accused of exploitative behavior by at least one of his models. The graphic nature of much of his work can be seen as being over the edge. However, in light of his raw focus on life present in his complete body of work, one needs to take into account also the documentary nature of his photographs, including his relationship with his wife and muse Yoko, from the intimate honeymoon photographs to her death, burial and beyond (personal altar). There is something about the Japanese aesthetics that deeply attracts me. In Araki's case the work is tough to digest, though indisputably relevant and powerful. This is not a book for everyone, but it is a fine edition very well put together by Steidl to mark his life works exhibit in Berlin in 2018. It is a must for any fine photographic library.
Displaying 1 of 1 review