Profile

Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, aphotographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos(sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage, flowers, food,his cat, faces and Tokyo street scenes. His solo exhibitions include “Nobuyoshi Araki Photobook Exhibition: Ar k+ ”, IZU PHOTO MUSEUM(Shizuoka, 2012), “NOBUYOSHI ARAKI: Self, Life, Death”, The Barbican Art Gallery (London, 2005), “Hana- Jinsei” Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography(2003), “Suicide in Tokyo” Italian Pavilion, Italia, Giardini di Castello (Venice, 2002), “Tokyo Still Life” Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, 2001), “Nobuyoshi Araki” Stedellik Museum voor Actuelle Kunst (Gent, 2000), “ARAKI Nobuyoshi Sentimental Photography, Sentimental Life” Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo(1999), “Tokyo Comedy” Wiener Secession (Vienna, 1997), “Journal intime” Fondation Cartier pour I’art contemporain (Paris, 1995), “Akt-Tokyo: Nobuyoshi Araki 1971-1991” Forum Stadtpark (Graz, 1992). Araki was a recipient of Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Arts (Austrian Embassy, 2008).

Select Exhibitions:
Nobuyoshi Araki, Jablonka Galerie, Koln, Germany
Shosetsu Seoul, Artium, Fukuoka, Japan
Tokyo Still Life, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom
My Kyoto 1971-1999, Isetan Museum, Kyoto, Japan
Erotos, OP Photogallery, Toronto, Canada
Nobuyoshi Araki, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Fassa Love, Galerie Les Trois Agneaux, France
Copenhagen Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Strategies; Photography of the Nineties, Kunsthalle, Kiel, Gemany, Museo;Arte Moderna, Bolzano, Italy and Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria

Select Artwork:
Visions of Japan, Naked Angels
Flower
Sans titre - 1996
Tokyo nostalgia - 1997
Tokyo Diary - 1996