Nan Goldin (Born 1953 in Washington, DC) is well-known for her candid photographs of intimate moments between her friends and family. A member of “The Boston School,” composed of artists such as David Armstrong, Mark Morrisroe, and Jack Pierson, Goldin visited Tokyo in 1992 and was struck by the beauty of the city and people, and for the first time she “photographed strangers on the street. [She] sensed change in the air, things boiling up from underground, people coming out, and women emerging with new attitudes.” Goldin returned to Tokyo in 1994 to work alongside her Japanese counterpart, the photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. Together, they published an artists’ book of their photographs of Japanese youth, titled Tokyo Love. Goldin was struck by the similarities between her formative years in the United States and the rebellious Japanese youth she encountered in Tokyo.
Tomoyuki in front of the TV is a portrait of a young man sitting in a room in front of a television set, surrounded by revealing clues to his personality: he is dressed in a loose, flowery top, with his face done in pale makeup and bright red lipstick, and stacks of fashion and beauty magazines behind him with black and white photographs of female dancers hung on the walls. Goldin’s photographs from Tokyo Love celebrate youthful energy and romance, and her subjects’ evolving, fluid sexuality.
