Manggha Museum reopened on 12 May!
Shiro Tsujimura, seen as a rebel and a revolutionary at home, and the eccentric Nobuyoshi Araki are some of Japan’s most controversial, individualist artists. Araki combines erotica and death, verging on the pornographic, setting new boundaries in photographic art. Tsujimura’s understated ceramics have also made a mark on contemporary art. At Manggha Museum’s exhibition at the Europe – Far East Gallery, we will see eighty works by Araki from eight series (from between 1972 and 2008), including nostalgic shots of Tokyo, the Kinbaku sophisticated soft forms of tied-up human bodies, the Obscenities nudes scratched onto film, and decadent floral compositions. Melancholic urban landscapes and dynamic human figures captivated in motion are complemented by a collection of sixty items of austere pottery hand-made by Tsujimura and fired used traditional Japanese methods. Both authors tread a fine line between life and death. Images captured with light, just like shapes preserved with fire, remind us of the unavoidable passing of everything that surrounds us. (dd)
