For the first time in the UK, Hamiltons Gallery presents a series of rare, unique sumi ink drawings by Nobuyoshi Araki. From 3 May to 10 June 2022 these unseen artworks will be presented alongside a series of well-known photographs from the artist’s career.
Nobuyoshi Araki is one of Japan’s most renowned photographers and contemporary artists. Araki’s work is often controversial, but his artistic genius is undeniable; every image reveals extreme technical mastery which influences many creative fields, including photography, film, painting, and in this case, ink drawing.
Araki’s inspiration for these expressive ink drawings derives from his regular jaunts in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district at a bar named Hanaguruma, which translates to ‘Flower Carriage’. The artist spent many nights in Hanaguruma, where he would sketch portraits, photograph, drink and generally hang out into the late hours. The tiny bar, which closed its doors in 2015, consisted of a simple counter and two seats, and was frequented by an array of visual artists and performers from Nan Goldin, Robert Frank to Bjork and Lady Gaga. Those who visited were encouraged to make their mark on the walls with signatures, drawings, and Polaroids.
Hamiltons’ exhibition presents these drawings alongside several impor tant photographs from the artists’ career. These prints reinforce the fact that the drawings are not only of passers-by, but of the women from his subconscious, his muses, his inspiration, and the source of his creative drive, included will be ‘Suicide in Tokyo, 1994’ and ‘Shino, 2002’. The drawings are, like the women in his pictures, the foundation of his identity and artistic practise.
Nobuyoshi Araki, Suicide in Tokyo, 1994 © Nobuyoshi Araki
