PROJECT DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE BOOK

For his notorious Park photos, taken by night in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Yoyogi, and Aoyama parks during the 1970s, Kohei Yoshiyuki used a 35mm camera, infrared film and flash to capture a secret community of lovers and voyeurs. His pictures document the people who gathered in these parks at night for clandestine trysts, as well as the many spectators lurking in the bushes who watched—and sometimes participated in—these couplings.

With their raw, snapshot-like quality, these images not only uncover the hidden sexual exploits of their subjects, both same-sex and heterosexual, but they also serve as a chronicle of a Japan we rarely see. As Martin Parr writes in The Photobook: A History Volume II, The Park is “a brilliant piece of social documentation, capturing perfectly the loneliness, sadness and desperation that so often accompany sexual or human relationships in a big, hard metropolis like Tokyo.”

This newly designed, comprehensive edition of Kohei Yoshiyuki: The Park brings this collectible classic back into print with eight never-before-seen images, as well as documentation of the sold-out 1980 Japanese zines that predated the 2007 Hatje Cantz/Yossi Milo edition.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Japanese photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki (born 1946) first came to prominence with the 1979 debut of his Park photos at the Komei Gallery,Tokyo.Yoshiyuki had his premiere exhibition outside of Japan at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York in 2007, and his photos are held in numerous collections worldwide, including the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Swedish Arts Council, Stockholm.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Nobuyoshi Araki is one of Japan’s most established photographers. Known for his controversial pictures of nude Japanese women, often involved in the art of kinbaku, Araki has published over 400 books, and has continued his signature style since the early 1970s. His work resides in some of the most significant public and private collections worldwide.

Yossi Milo is founder and owner of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Established in 2000, the gallery is dedicated to providing a platform for an influential community of artists working in all media, including photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and video.

Vince Aletti is a renowned curator, writer, and photography critic whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Artforum, and other publications. He has contributed to scores of photography books about artists including Richard Avedon, Saul Leiter, Peter Hujar, Ingar Krauss, Irving Penn, and David Wojnarowicz. Aletti was awarded the Infinity Award for writing by The International Center for Photography in 2005.

BOOK INFORMATION

Trim Size: 11 x 12.5 inches

Number of Pages: 160 pages

Binding Method: BINDING hardback, sewn sections, flat spine, H&T’s, jacketed

Paper: 140 pages divided as follow: 120 pages printed 2/2 (K+Duotone pms) on 150gsm GardaPat Bianka 20 pages printed 2/2 (K+Duotone pms) on 120gsm ArcoPrint Milk ENDPAPERS printed 2/2 on 140gsm white uncoated w/f paper COVER 3mms board wrapped with Buckram P Extra #2269 with 1col foil stamping on front and spine JACKET printed 3/0 on 150gsm GardaPat Bianka, matt laminated inside with spot UV varnish and raised debossing on front and spine

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CREDIT INFORMATION

Creative Director: David Chickey

Art Director: David Chickey

Book Designer: David Chickey, Montana Currie

Jacket/Cover Designer: David Chickey, Montana Currie

Illustrator:

Photographer: Kohei Yoshiyuki

Picture Editor:

Production Director:

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