Araki (Photofile)

The Japanese photographer and artist Nobuyoshi Araki is known for his provocative pictures. Influenced by Shunga, the erotic art of the Edo period (1603-1867), as well as the glossy imagery of contemporary culture, much of Araki's work confronts taboo subjects such as sex, nudity and death head on. Subjects range from poetic scenes of old Tokyo to modern Japanese sub-culture, from sensual close-ups of exotic flowers to erotic photographs of kimono-clad women bound in rope. This compact book surveys and reflects Araki’s extraordinary breadth of work, from the shocking to the sublime.