shashasha

A 36 page edition providing an overview of Nobuyoshi Araki’s monumental project “Tombeau Tokyo”. The publication of this catalogue accompanies the exhibition of more than 400 photos of the Tombeau Tokyo series at Little Big Man Gallery in Los Angeles.

“A large percentage of the work in Tombeau Tokyo (2016) focuses on floral compositions with various objects arranged within—mainly sex toys and dolls. Viewed alongside the historical context of Vanitas paintings and historic Dutch flower still-life paintings, Araki’s photographs bear resemblance, but differ in that these blooms are no longer at their lush best, but in faded fetid form. Within this withering foliage lie toy monsters—serpents set to corrupt this garden of earthly delights. Amongst the settings of some of these images, Araki has placed images of his colonoscopy examinations, so as to propose that this wellspring of darkness may perhaps come from within.”
— from the publisher’s statement