Detail

Time and again, Araki engages in an almost compulsive and voyeuristic manner with the subject of Japanese women, his hometown Tokyo, and voluptuous still lifes. Brazenly, the exposed women give themselves to the gaze of the camera and the beholder: in the famous “Bondage” series the bodies are tied up, suspended, deformed, and fragmented. These photographs exude an almost morbid eroticism. Araki’s obsession with the female sex is also reflected in his photographs of food and flowers (“The Banquet” and “Kakyoku”), where allusions to female genitalia can be seen. Lively, unrestrained colors, rich and seductive materials, and wanton forms awaken the beholders’ sensual perception.