[English Japanese]
Exhibition
Nobuyoshi Araki
"Hana Kinbaku"
May 25 - June 21, 2008
Opening reception / opening hours : May 25, Sun, 16:00-17:30
Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce our twelfth solo exhibition with Nobuyoshi Araki, “Hana Kinbaku”. For this exhibition, the gallery will present works in which two positives are printed simultaneously as one photograph - a first for Araki. Approximately 100 photographs from the series will be exhibited.
Hana (Flower)
In my childhood neighborhood, there was a “temple for sanctuary.” This was a familiar place where I often played as a child. There, I found dying cluster of amaryllis (spider lilies), and was astonished by their beauty. I used a white background and shot the flowers until it got dark. This experience was the start of my “flower life.”
“ARAKI by ARAKI” 2003
Kinbaku (Bondage)
There is the “aesthetics” of bondage, like bondage masters’ Kikko Shibari (bondage in a testudinal form.) But I don’t need perfection like that in photography. Nor does the bondage have to be good. By not pursuing perfection, I try not to make it too much of an “art work.”
When I tie-up women, I tell them “I’m binding your heart, not your body.” A woman can slip out of my bondage. It doesn’t have to be accomplished.
“Subete no onna wa utsukushii (All women are beautiful)” 2006
According to his words, Araki is “always thinking about Eros (sex/ life) and Thanatos (death).” As such, Araki’s works always embrace Eros and Thanatos as inextricably linked elements. In the exhibited works, Araki photographed Kinbaku (bondage) to express Eros, and Hana (Flower) for Thanatos, allowing them to coexist in the prints, conjoining them in a way that he has never tried before.
Nobuyoshi Araki
"Hana Kinbaku", 2008
Unique colour photograph & colour positive
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Taka Ishii Gallery
Nobuyoshi Araki New Publication
Nobuyoshi Araki’s new catalogue will be published by Taka Ishii Gallery on May 25*
Title : ”Hana Kinbaku”
Number of Work: 862 bondage, 591 flower photographs
Size: B5-variant
Pages : 152 pages
Hard Cover
*Publishing schedule is subject to change.