Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940 and was given his first camera by his father in junior high. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. Four decades and over 250 photo publications later, the 63-year-old artist stands a long way from his start as a cameraman for the advertising titan Dentsu. While he no longer has to distribute his art by himself (at Dentsu, he indiscriminately mailed his Xeroxed photo books to strangers), he still retains his gift for self-promotion.
Showing no signs of mellowing or retreating into retirement, Araki continues to stay active while maintaining his controversial persona. ("To take a good photo of a woman, you have to sleep with her," he once said.) This May the photographer published "ARAKI by ARAKI" -- a retrospective photobook of the 40-year career of this pioneer of contemporary Japanese photography. Despite the controversy and censorship that has colored the career of this maverick, it is difficult to question his talent. He possesses the almost magical ability to transform the most mundane details into objects of fascination, to impregnate them with a raw, sexual energy -- from fleeting scenes of the urban landscape to slivers of sukiyaki beef or wilted chrysanthemums. His works are steeped in his trademark obsessions: women, flowers, women, skies, women, his cat Chiro, women, Tokyo -- and women.
Like the man himself, who somewhat resembles a mad professor in shades, Araki's photos leave an indelible impression. He shocks, seduces, perturbs and confuses. Those vaguely familiar with his works cannot help but notice the apparent disconnection between the gentle photographer of "Sentimental Journey, Winter Journey" documenting the artist's relationship with his deceased wife and lifelong muse, Yoko, and the almost clinical way he surveys the female form, trussed up in ropes, in some of his bondage pieces. His work is full of such apparent contradictions. This mischievous photographer provokes viewers with images of the female form that are often oddly sensuous and objective at the same time, both erotic and cerebral. Ultimately, Araki presents us with a puzzle: the naked human psyche itself.