Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University's Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972.
Read MoreAt Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki's work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women's bodies in Japanese bondage, flowers, food, his cat, faces and Tokyo street scenes.
Araki was a recipient of the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Arts (Austrian Embassy, 2008) and the 54th Mainichi Art Award (2012).
Nobuyoshi Araki is arguably Japan's greatest living photographer. His inexhaustible creative energy is attested to by the more than 450 books he has published in the last four decades.
Araki's exhibitions go back to 1965, when he exhibited at Shinjuku Station Building, Tokyo, Japan, his first show called Satchin and His Brother Mabo. From then on Araki's work has been exhibited permanently and worldwide through the years.
Text courtesy Reflex Amsterdam.
Ocula Feature Berlin, Boners and Brecht By Diana d'Arenberg, Berlin Apparently my timing sucks. One week too late for Berlin Gallery Weekend, and one month too early for the Berlin Biennale. ‘You should have been here last weekend for Berlin Gallery Weekend!’ a Berliner friend exclaimed. ‘Everyone was having orgies at Soho House! It was the best art world networking!’ I shifted...
Ocula Feature Japan Focus: Three Tokyo Exhibitions By Becca Voelcker, Tokyo I walk along Tokyo’s Ginza shopping street towards the basement art gallery of Shiseido’s store, where three series of recent works by renowned Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki are on display in Nobuyoshi Araki Ōjō Shashū: Photography for the Afterlife — EasternSky. It’s one of those autumn days when the...
Ocula Conversation Stephen Mccoubrey With an extraordinary collection of paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures and video by some of the world’s major artists from 1960 onwards, UBS is recognized as having one of the most important corporate collections of contemporary art in the world. Stephen McCoubrey has been co-curator of that collection since 1999 and is...
Related Press How Ed van der Elsken Influenced Other Artists 3 March 2017, The New York Times Ed van der Elsken may not have become a household name, but his art has influenced a broad range of photographers, filmmakers and other contemporary artists. Here are three who expressed a direct connection to his art. Nan Goldin The contemporary American photographer Nan Goldin, known for her deeply personal snapshot-like portraits, and her...
Related Press 'Masters of Japanese Photography': Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts 22 February 2017, ArtAsiaPacific Photographs by three of Japan's most prolific living artists from the 20th century were recently on view in Masters of Japanese Photography, at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA) in Norwich, England. This was the first time Nobuyoshi Araki, Eikoh Hosoe and Kikuji Kawada had their works displayed in the east of England, although all three...
Related Press Tokyo: photogenic to its very core 14 December 2016, The Japan Times With Tokyo being the object of so many excellent photographers’ interest over the last 150 odd years, it’s entirely legitimate that the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum should be bringing it home. What’s on display in the first exhibition, displayed on the third floor, is a selection from the museum’s world-class permanent...
Related Press Eros, Life and Death: The photography of Japan's Nobuyoshi Araki at Musée Guimet, Paris 19 August 2016, Art Radar Journal With over 400 photographs taken between 1965 and 2016, Araki is one of the most important and comprehensive surveys dedicated to the influential Japanese photographer. Launched on 13 April, Araki runs at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques–Guimet (MNAAG) in Paris until 5 September 2016, and marks one of the major...
