Sex, death and toy dinosaurs collide in Nobuyoshi Araki's latest exhibition
Since the mid-1960s, the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki has been shooting sex, life, death, kinbaku (a particular form of rope-based bondage) and more recently, plastic dinosaurs, mostly, but not always, in an oddly disengaged black and white. In this time he has shot tens of thousands of images and published more than 450 photobooks. They have made him one of the most admired, influential and controversial artist-photographers of the last half century.
Of course it is the sex - or rather the strangely sexless images of bound and naked young women - that has received the most attention. But a new retrospective at Foam gallery in Amsterdam, 'Ojo Shashu - Photography for the After Life: Alluring Hell', shows that death stalks Araki just as purposefully - perhaps more so now that the photographer is in his mid 70s.
The exhibition covers Araki's earliest work and his breakthrough photographs of the early 1970s right up to his most recent works. Among these are the early, erotic black-and-white prints over which he has smeared primary coloured paints and the 'qARADISE' series - colour shots of flower arrangements, porcelain dolls and plastic dinosaurs like mini, off-kilter Edens.
Araki comes over as much obsessive diarist as he does dirty old man - a part he is happy to play and parody. The show is haunted by the images of his wife Yoko in both life and death (she died in 1990), and Chiro, his beloved cat, who died two decades later, as well as Tokyo street life.
Araki has been so restless and prolific that the show might feel more like the work of five photographers than just one. The fascination is that it is not.
ADDRESS
Foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
The moments fashion met art at the 60th Venice Biennale
The best fashion moments at the 2024 Venice Biennale, with happenings from Dior, Golden Goose, Balenciaga, Burberry and more
By Jack Moss Published
-
Crispin at Studio Voltaire, in Clapham, is a feast for all the senses
New restaurant Crispin at Studio Voltaire is the latest opening from the brains behind Bistro Freddie and Bar Crispin, with interiors by Jermaine Gallagher
By Billie Brand Published
-
Vivienne Westwood’s personal wardrobe goes up for sale in landmark Christie’s auction
The proceeds of ’Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection’, running this June, will go to the charitable causes she championed during her lifetime
By Jack Moss Published
-
The complicated and ‘incomplete’ legacy of Nobuyoshi Araki
By Charlotte Jansen Last updated
-
Open letter: the artists behind ToiletPaper are ‘DTF’ with OKCupid
By Ann Binlot Published
-
Graphic novel: Noma Bar gets personal in a visual autobiography
By Elly Parsons Last updated
-
Celebrating gender identity, a new exhibition brings together a diverse cache of LGBT art
By Charlotte Jansen Last updated
-
Silk road: Victoria Rowley on her provocative prints and the slow nature of making
By Elly Parsons Last updated
-
Tim Noble and Sue Webster get the right end of the stick in their latest show
By Charlotte Jansen Last updated
-
’Striptease’: Ionna Vautrin’s saucy sketches go on display in Paris
By Amy Verner Last updated
-
Tom House: Michael Reynolds explores Tom of Finland's living museum
By Aaron Peasley Published