Araki, A Hidden Erotic Message.

Nobuyoshi Araki

Nobuyoshi Araki, a well known Japanese Erotic Photographer. Who had also brought his Erotic photography into a whole new level to became an "Art Piece". Also as one of the most famous photographer in the world so I don't think I really need to do too much basic introduction for this man. But what I am trying to study from him today is the message which hidden from his pictures.

Nobuyoshi Araki

Is these pictures Erotic to you? What is that means to you? What can you see? What can you feel?

I like simply split pictures in two different type - Close or Open. 
Close, One can be easy to understand by it's surface, which will usually give you the straight meaning from the first time you see the picture. And the other type is Open, the pictures which will give you open area to think about, the photographer won't tell you the meaning straightly but will leave you space for your own imagination. I mostly prefer photography in an open way because I love to feel and think something by myself, and I also love to put my own emotion for reading pictures. 

Nobuyoshi Araki

I think it must be a reason why a photographer love to hide the message from his own pictures. May be he is shy? May be he only aim for the people who know him well? Or may be even himself not so sure about it's meaning? Who knows, but it must be a reason.

For Araki's Pictures, mostly know as some sex, nude pictures like you can see on pornography. Be honest I don't really feel interested in these kind of pictures from him but more interested into his still life pictures, I love the meaning, the message which hidden from his still-life images. Just like this Pepsi Cans picture, Araki collected these poor cans from the road, a can which "flat' by a truck, he see this can as a treasure, an art piece. Then he brought this "Treasure" home and take photograph for them, this is the whole story behind this picture.

Of course when you don't know about this story you see different things from this pictures, but the things I want to tell is as I said an open pictures will give you different meaning, and this meaning can be very different from that person's own knowledge, experience, point of view etc. As same as the pictures of the Eye and Mouth, if you give them to a 10 years old kid, I am sure they will just tell you it's an Eye, and and mouth. If you give them to a adult and put them in horizontal way, they may still give you the same answer/or may be not. But if you give these to a person who knows about Nobusyoshi Araki and shows them in his exhibition, the meaning from this pictures can be very clear for that person.

Not only for Araki's images, for many of the famous still life photographers such as Edward Weston or Hiroshi Sugimoto, they all hided they message, they offer them only for someone who is ready to understand. They are not only showing the beautiful shape of their subject but also the meaning/message of the subject too. And I see this photography as a advanced level of the still life photography.