Araki is probably best known for his photos
documenting the Japanese sex industry, focusing on the Kabukicho
district of Shinjuku in Tokyo in the 1980s. These were later published
in "Tokyo Lucky Hole."
From the Series PaINting, 2010, Zurich
From the Series PaINting, 2010, Zurich
From the Series PaINting, 2010, Zurich
-For his exhibition in Zurich, Araki has produced small-scale silver
gelatin prints, partially overpainted in India ink. Such a
time-consuming and costly procedure seems quite anachronistic in this
digital age of image production. But it is through such compositional
constellations that he repeatedly succeeds in lending his photos an
inexplicable allure.-
-Araki is arguably Japan’s greatest living photographer, and certainly
its most controversial. His inexhaustible creative energy is attested to
by the more than 300 books he has published in the last four decades,
while his work, which often challenges social taboos surrounding sex and
death, has drawn critical attention both at home and abroad.-
(ARAKI)
"I would say my sex drive is weaker than most. However, my lens has a permanent erection."
(ARAKI)
“I can shackle the body of a woman, but not her mind. The bonds become an embrace.”
(ARAKI)
