Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>>. i don't think it is fair to imply that artists like ralph >> gibson, michael kenna, and nabuyoshi araki are essentially misguided >or >> 'inaccessible' simply because their work does not follow the >documentary >> tradition or seek to draw our collective attention to human suffering. > >Nabuyoshi Araki... there's another name I absolutely despise. > >He is merely a fashionable pornographer. Build a portfolio of nude 14 >year olds, and call it art. ken, he's done a lot more than that. i'm not saying that i find all of his work interesting, but his fantastic (in the true sense of that word) photographic documentaries of city life in such books as 'tokyo novelle' are truly unique, imho, especially when you consider them in the context of the artistic/photographic tradition to which they belong, and which include weegee's new york photos, brassai's paris photos, etc. he is a unique photographic voice. granted, his work is not everybody's cup of tea, and his pornographic images surely ruffle feathers here and there, but to dismiss him a 'merely a fashionable photographer' is to be more than a little cavalier with respect to what photography is able to offer as an art form. guy