The artist Ken Ichi Murata embraces his own ancient Japanese culture to create his erotic photography, but his work is an ongoing exploration of new undiscovered boundaries as well. Some of the images are showing us Japanese girls in very traditional roles, like the one of the Geisha or the innocent schoolgirl.
But even if he uses these traditional Japanese icons of a woman, he transforms them, reinvents them, and gives these images his own unique signature. I always admired the Japanese culture for their capability to adept to the modern dynamical world, without neglecting their roots. And though I look at their culture from a distance there seems to be an enormous vitally from within and the work of Ken Ichi Murata is an another proof for this intrinsic vitality.
The Japanese Girls of Ken Ichi Murata seem to be part of a dream, sometimes confronting, but there is always an aura of subtile tenderness. When I discovered his work I was immediately caught by his soft hand-colored erotic images, his engaging scenes and exotic atmosphere.
The work of Ken Ichi Murata has recently been published, by Edition Reuss, in a book with the title “The Japanese Princess”.
