Blue Period / Last Summer

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Presentation by Session Press:

"One of the most influential photographers of our time, Nobuyoshi Araki is known for his diaristic style through the publication of over 500 books throughout his career.

It is, however, less known that Araki had explored experimental film projects since the mid 80s. In 1986 at Cinema Rise in Tokyo, Araki staged a live performance entitled Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story). Using two projectors, Araki and his assistants selected and sequenced slides to create a succession of overlapping images fading into one another, accompanied by a musical soundtrack. Tokyo Monogatari became the first in a series of live performances entitled Arakinema, which he staged until the mid-2000s in museums and art institutions around the world.

Pictures dirived from Shashin Jidai

Blue Period and Last Summer are made up primarily of nudes and portraits alternating with street scenes and images of flowers.  The majority of the work is derived from Shashin Jidai, the important underground sub culture magazine of the 1980s in Japan.

Working directly from the 140 original slides used for both projections, the book successfully offers a fresh review of the photographer’s hidden oeuvre and regains the true spirit and atmosphere of the original Arakinema performances.

« The two films should be seen as a set, since Blue Period is about the past and Last Summer is about the future. By removing color using a chemical solution, Blue Period is about an act of subtraction (past), whereas adding color to the images in Last Summer is about an act of addition (future). This project is just like life itself. »

           -- Nobuyoshi Araki   "

This book is inserted in an illustrated soft cardboard slipcase. It is usually available in two « editions » where only the images on the back and front of the slipcase differ, but we are currently carrying the US edition at this time.

 - Japanese Edition : Blue Bikini & Roses

 - US Edition : Colorful Hip & Mouth

216 pages - Softcover in soft cardboard slipcase

Session Press, 2017

Format : 16 x 17.8 cm

New - Mint condition