Araki Nobuyoshi (b. 1940)
Untitled
Japan, 1997
Photograph; RC gloss print
Copyright: Nobuyoshi Araki
Courtesy of the artist and Yoshiko Isshiki Office, Tokyo
(L2014-55.01)

Some of Araki’s kinbaku images are remarkably abstract and radiate a formal elegance that transcends their challenging subject matter. This close-up of the model’s torso seems to dissolve into an assortment of textures and tones: the woman’s light, unblemished skin, her dark, disheveled hair, and the orderly, yet coarse, cords of jute that bind her.