A recent post surfaced on Japundit speculated that a series of photographs by Kohei Yoshiyuki, that’s been getting heaps of coverage in the New York press and art blog world, might actually be an example of yarase (staged scene).
Yarase is a popular medium in Japan sometimes done just for laughs, for shock, and perhaps most commonly, as tantalizing eroticism.
From simply looking at the photos its difficult to tell. Sex in public parks is not unheard of in Japan (or in many other parts of the world) and, as one might imagine, neither are lines of voyers interested in peeping the fun.
Also interesting here is the New York Art world’s willingness to thrust themselves into the rapture of the mysterious orient–particularly that of Japan, particularly when sex is part of the equation. Reading this kind of stuff makes me hope these photos are found to be fake.
From the Village Voice:
A pair of lovers, even in bed, is never really alone; beside them lie the ghosts of past loves and Oedipal dramas, and all manner of imaginary companions. But the couples in Kohei Yoshiyuki’s photographs are particularly well-attended. For a few years in the 1970s, Yoshiyuki (born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1946) prowled the parks of Tokyo, using infrared film to photograph people having furtive sex outdoors at night, and lustful hordes of men intent on watching them.
It’s easy to imagine this woman writing this rolling around on red silk sheets, clutching her notepad and groaning–an empty sushi takeout box on the nightstand, her cat named Yoshimi licking the fork.
One has to wonder what the coverage would be if these photos were from Laos, Poland, or El Paso. Would we see articles in the New York Times and writing like this?
WHY are the Japanese couples in Kohei Yoshiyuki’s photographs having sex outdoors? Was 1970s Tokyo so crowded, its apartments so small, that they were forced to seek privacy in public parks at night? And what about those peeping toms? Are the couples as oblivious as they seem to the gawkers trespassing on their nocturnal intimacy?
Yes, exactly, Philip, people had sex outdoors because they was no room to lie down in their apartments. We have the same problem in Korea with eating. We often eat outside because we don’t have room to sit down in our apartments. Can I interest you in some photos of me eating outside?
4 responses so far ↓
1 dnny bee // Oct 15, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Great post. Loved it. Just what the NYC art crowd needs to hear, and esp the NYTimes reporter who wrote that gushing story in the first place, no questions asked. As one of Japanese friends in TKO said, what’s wrong with the art crowd in the USA? You, dear poster, just answered that good question………Yes, the USA art world got blinkered on this one, big time. If it’s Japan, it must be “oriental”…….give me a break, Mr Yarase!
I like the Yarase(x) pun too. That is a pun, right?
2 Rain // Oct 15, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Yes, agree with previous commenter. In fact these photos could have been created (could have, prob not) to elicit just the exact repsonse they did.
3 Tommy J // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I read about this on a blog a while back and was thinking the same thing. I’m always amused at the perception of the east via the west and particularly in movies and tv shows. This exhibit has it all…Japan, sex…even the fact that the photos are black and white. But the knowledge is superficial, right? I guess the post points this out to some extent already, but it’s presented in such glorious terms. Almost unreal. Like a Japan that doesn’t exist.
4 A.S. // Oct 16, 2007 at 11:22 am
Thanks for the comments. When we started this site one of the original ideas was to focus on incidents of Orientalism in sports writing. We even created a category for it, and I expected to fill it weekly. But there aren’t as many instances of Orientalism in sports writing as one might think. At least not now. But in the case of Art criticism, where for some reason the writers often feel like they have more license to “be artists” with their own writing (and probably think that since they’re writing about something “of culture” that they’re absolved from any questioning of their own cultural background) you can find it.
The first example is just silly…this is an art writer feeling some need to match her subject in reach and scope…to paint broad strokes as the case seems to be. It’s not so offensive except in the sense that it’s stupid. But the reference is Greek, not Asian (although, many of the early examples of Orientalism involved contrasting the Persian Empire with the democratic tradition of Athens).
The second example is a better one. It’s like the guy sat down and thought…”Hmmm…Japan…sushi, busy. Yes, busy. Small spaces. Ah spaces…like in Soho. Yes, here we go.”
I still am not sure if the photos are fake. I haven’t heard anything conclusive. But it doesn’t really change what was written in either example. Both are good cases of lazy art criticism. If it turns out the photos are fake the writers look even more ridiculous.
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