archivenobuyoshiaraki

Hana Kinbaku, 2008 © Nobuyoshi Araki courtesy Michael Hoppen Contemporary

Nobuyoshi Araki and the Aesthetics of Bondage

Michael Hoppen
Contemporary
3 Jubilee Place
+44 (0)20 7352 3649
London
Nobuyoshi Araki -
Hana Kinbaku
20 November 2008-
10 January 2009

Hana (Flower)
In my childhood neighborhood, there was a “temple for sanctuary.” This was a familiar place where I often played as a child. There, I found dying cluster of amaryllis (spider lilies), and was astonished by their beauty. I used a white background and shot the flowers until it got dark. This experience was the start of my “flower life.”

— Araki by Araki, 2003

Kinbaku (Bondage)
There is the “aesthetics” of bondage, like bondage masters’ Kikko Shibari (bondage in a testudinal form.) But I don’t need perfection like that in photography. Nor does the bondage have to be good. By not pursuing perfection, I try not to make it too much of an “art work.”

When I tie-up women, I tell them “I’m binding your heart, not your body.” A woman can slip out of my bondage. It doesn’t have to be accomplished.

— “Subete no onna wa utsukushii (All women are beautiful)” 2006

Hana Kinbaku is a new exhibition of work by one of Japan’s greatest artists, Nobuyoshi Araki. The gallery presents a series of handmade, one-off diptychs, never before seen in the UK.

Araki’s Hana Kinbaku works are photographic diptych studies of flowers (hana) and bondage (kinbaku- the ancient and highly skilled art of Japanese erotic restraint). In this body of work, Araki physically, and imperfectly, tapes the images into diptychs, accentuating the join between subject matter and adding an extra layer of texture to each individual piece.

The juxtaposition of bound female semi-nudes and intense close ups of orchids, tulips and chrysanthemums strengthen the beauty of Kinbaku whilst reinforcing the innate sexuality of flowers. The work links Araki’s two main photographic themes; Eros (life/ sex) and Thanatos (death), conjoining them in a way that has a strong and direct visual impact. The decision by Araki to only print one of each coupled image enhances the intrinsic themes of life and death.

Michael Hoppen Contemporary specialise in Japanese photography and are delighted to be working be working with Nobuyoshi Araki and his studio in Tokyo for this exhibition.