claude_batmanghelidj Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 A while back Araki the Japanese photographer came up in thediscussion. I didn't know much about the guy, but checked out some ofhis work and quickly got back with a few choice words about him. Anyway, for those of you who think Araki is so great, and for thoselooking for inspiration, I am posting the brief review of a movieabout him from the Tokyo Classified. It is amazing what the Japanesethink is great, and how different that is from the rest of the world.Kurosawa could not even find funding for his later films in Japan, andwas sponsored by Spielberg, et al instead: Nobuyoshi Araki is probably the most famous living Japanesephotographer and this American-produced documentary is a bizarre pieceof hagiography. It drools over a man (and his highly explicit photos)who made his name by trying to be as controversial as possible.Filmmaker Travis Klose thinks he?s asking the pertinent questionsabout Araki, who likes to shoot naked women bound and hanginghelplessly, or on the floor with their vaginas splayed open, butactually he?s been conned by the self-aggrandizing scam artist who nowpreaches an apparent new-found respect for women. We?re told Araki?sinsulation against feminist critique is a ?cultural difference,? whileBjork lauds Araki and how his work obviously shows he loves his wifedeeply. Good thing she told us because the wife looks miserable. Didanyone inform the American team that Araki?s headline-grabbing quoteprior to his massive fame was ?all women are whores?? I?m sure theycould find some expert to explain he meant this in the most respectfulway.CINEMA 37 by Rob Schwartz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik_jones Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 ok, so i find bjork pretty facinating for always doing something strikingly original- from her music, to her much discussed fashion, to her avant garde videos - but why is she being cited as though her support of any photographer immediately makes the photos legitimate. a celebrity likes a photographer. madonna likes obscure jewish sects. tom cruise is a scientologist. the japanese like araki, as do some others on this site. so what? this is one of those things that is fully within anyone's power to ignore. until you brought this up, i've never heard of him and, based upon your description of his photos, certainly won't be looking them up at work. if i so choose, i don't have to look at them at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_clark Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I've been to two Araki exhibitions, both times with independent-thinking women friends and both involved in women's issues. Neither of them found the images offensive, only intriguing. Just shows life is not always so predictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nowhereman Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 >>> It is amazing what the Japanese think is great, and how different that is from the rest of the world.<<< Speak for yourself. Araki has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington and at major NY galleries and museums as well. My only problem with him is that I wish he would publish fewer photos and select more. There is an interesting dialogue between Araki and Moriyama in the catalogue published in connection with last year's Moriyama retrospective at the Cartier Foundation. Also, Tokyo Classified is not where I go for art criticism of any value. --Mitch/Paris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aizan_sasayama Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 His wife was in the movie? I thought she died of cancer. Must have looked really miserable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtodrick Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Just what we need...another self appointed arbitrator of taste and culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod g. Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Nobuyoshi Araki is an artist... and as such the value of his work is less in the subject and more in the over all handling of the medium and impact of the image. Making works of art allows for a great range of subject matter because it's an activity that focuses on the human condition. Whores, drunks and deviants have been celebrated through art in every age! You can't claim the moral high ground or judge artistic merit (good or bad) on the basis of subject matter.Rob Schwartz's review is just petty complaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_de_zan Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 The Araki I've seen is porn, and not particularly interesting porn at that. He may have the highest artistic intentions, but he's picked a subject and an approach to that subject within which it is no longer possible to distinguish art from commerce. It's really hard to legitimately "document" such a self-documenting thing as the sex industry. Not that he shouldn't try, but I sure don't think he's succeeded. Thanks to the mass proliferation of "erotic" images, it is now almost impossible to do anything valid in this arena. The best erotic art being done now is stridently non-explicit, because explicit is now utterly boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_neuthaler Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Somebody post some of his (porn) pictures, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_hundsnurscher Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Why can't people just run a search on google for Araki? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john sypal Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 <p>To keep this post on topic, Araki often uses and M7 and I think an M6. Two of his recent books on Korea were shot with Leicas, and I have seen in other books a CLE hanging from his neck, usually with a lady or two. There is one book called something like "Araki and Leica" or "Leica and Araki"... something like that.</p> <p>==================================-</p> <p>Anyway, here is something you all ought to read:</p> <p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/feature/0,1169,736248,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/feature/0,1169,736248,00.html</a></p> <p>"Maybe I only had a relationship with her (His Wife) as a photographer, not as a partner," Araki has said. "If I hadn't documented her death, both the description of my state of mind and my declaration of love would have been incomplete. I found consolation in unmasking lust and loss, by staging a bitter confrontation between symbols. After Yoko's death, I didn't want to photograph anything but life - honestly. Yet every time I pressed the button, I ended up close to death, because to photograph is to stop time." He went on: "I want to tell you something, listen closely: photography is murder." His models, he continued, come to him demanding to be murdered. "Women always go home 'happy' after I take their pictures. I truss them up or shave them. Ha ha ha. Then I get love letters, saying, 'It was a happy day for me'." </p> <p>I was at a Kinokunia book store in Shinjuku last night (went home with Stephen Shore's "Uncommon Places") and as usual, there were no less than a few dozen photo books by Araki for sale. The man puts out more books in a year than most photographers do in 20.</p> <p>Here is an interview: <a href="http://tokyonewsline.com/entertainmentline/nobuyoshi_araki.html">http://tokyonewsline.com/entertainmentline/nobuyoshi_araki.html</a></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jury Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 "It is amazing what the Japanese think is great, and how different that is from the rest of the world." Claude, just out of curiousity, do you happen to be working in japan right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doris_chan Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Why would those of us "who think Araki is so great" be influenced/concerned by the review you quote? If we think he's "great" then presumably we're already familiar with his work. I'm not aware of anything produced by Araki that matches the crass, offensive, insensitivy of your regular rantings about the current state of Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saotome_genma Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Hey Doris; are you related to Boris and his good old cousin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doris_chan Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I'm the youngest sister of Boris Chan, and therefore the cousin of Boris O'Chan. I'm way nicer than both of them...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john sypal Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 And Saotome Genma is both a Panda and Ranma's father... I did not know he used leicas.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_ Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 <I>I'm way nicer than both of them......</I><P> And I bet you smell real nice too. So what are you wearing? www.citysnaps.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 <i>The Araki I've seen is porn</i><p> You must be confusing him with someone else then.<p> Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claude_batmanghelidj Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Doris Chan is a fat middle aged Italian man that lives in Flatbush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saotome_genma Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Welcome to the Kapl... I mean the leica forum, Doris.<P>John; it is rather hard operating a leica when one is a panda, but I try hard you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claude_batmanghelidj Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 He shoots with a Leica M3, and has been exhibited at the 711 in Queens and the Circle K in Manhatten. Doris Chan is also a nom de plume that Araki has been know to use on this forum from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vuk_vuksanovic Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 bondage photos are the domain of angry poseurs, teenagers, goth dweebs and middle-aged people trying to spice up their sex lives by following the advice of a syndicted newspaper advice columnist. vuk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 It's interesting how little people know about his photography. Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doris_chan Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 "Doris Chan is a fat middle-aged Italian man......" Progress at last. I'd much rather you ranted against me than against an entire nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aizan_sasayama Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 <i>It's really hard to legitimately "document" such a self-documenting thing as the sex industry.</i> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/3908247799/002 -5929264-2164033?v=glance" target="_blank">seen this?</a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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