Crush Your Head and Tie Me Up: “Weight of Desire” at Long Story Short

I’ve always been drawn to darker, more seductive, and, in some circles, taboo imagery, particularly in formats more readily available to a non-fine art audience, such as books or magazines. The more risqué, the better. It is exciting when people find community within their niche tastes, where open sexuality is not just celebrated but encouraged in all its messy and different forms. Artists, such as Robert Mapplethorpe(1946-1989), made kink and the BDSM lifestyle fine art, with his photographs of men in leather and in BDSM scenes (a subculture in which he was active) that allowed new audiences not only to appreciate but to take a dip into the lifestyle themselves. Robert Crumb (b.1943) let us all into his obsession with powerful women in the U.S. in magazines and in his comics. I, of course, must also mention one of my personal favorites: John Alexander Scott Coutts (1902-1962), aka John Willie, the founding editor and cartoonist of the first true American fetish pulp magazine Bizarre (1948-1959), in which America first saw Bettie Page tied up and women in leather and high heels dominating men. In Japan, it was Namio Harukawa (1947–2020) and Nobuyoshi Araki (b. 1940) who introduced audiences to, respectively, voluptuous women in power, subjecting weak, frail men in fetish magazines like Kitan Club and kinbaku (Japanese rope bondage).

This is why I was so excited when my friend sent me Long Story Short’s Instagram post announcing the opening of the two-person exhibition Weight of Desire, featuring works by Namio Harukawa and Nobuyoshi Araki. I was unfamiliar with Araki’s work (shame on me!), but I had seen Harukawa’s art online more in the last couple of years (though, before this show, I had never seen them in person). I was shaking with anticipation all day, and the show did not disappoint. The pairing of Harukawa’s drawings and Araki’s huge, larger-than-life photographs felt like the yin to each other’s yang: Harukawa’s viraginous women controlling small men with their buttocks, squishing their heads in an erotically charged way, and Araki’s women letting themselves be completely vulnerable, tied up in different positions, and photographed.

Namio Harukawa’s love of busty, strong women dominating men is in the vein of Robert Crumb (another artist I admire). Harukawa’s drawings are tongue-in-cheek. My favorites are the ones, like Untitled 14 (1990), in which the woman interacts with another person, who doesn’t know that she’s also squashing a man beneath her. Even funnier are the scenes in which a smaller, younger person curiously peeps through the window or doorframe, spying on what is going on. It’s coy, and shows how two realities can happen simultaneously: a woman can have a conversation on the phone with a coworker or get ready to drink some sake, and at the same time, a man is completely in the throes of ecstasy being smothered by her. The drawings are not simply hilarious. What is more empowering than seeing a strong woman completely overpowering a man? And the man not only accepts this power exchange but desires it?

Infamously known for his erotic shibari images, Nobuyoshi Araki’s glorious photographs also have a dark humor, with some being called a comedy. One of my favorites is Kinbaku (Bondage) (1989/2007), which features a woman’s tied-up torso and head, as she gazes off into the distance, looking completely calm and a bit morose. The most compelling aspects of Araki’s works are the details: a schoolgirl strung up with her skirt coming down over her head, or a small monster action figure in the corner of Tokyo Comedy (1997/2008).

However, I must pivot for a moment and reflect on an uncomfortable truth: As mentioned, I was not familiar with Araki’s work before this show. While researching for this review, I learned that in 2018, Kaori, a former model of Araki’s from 2001-2016, came forward in a blog post stating that Araki financially and artistically exploited her. This greatly disturbed me because when looking at his photos, I was completely mesmerized, partially because I know of the explicit consent that must take place during ‘scenes’ (BDSM, bondage, etc.). Any good and decent dom, daddy, mistress, goddess, what have you, knows that the key part is consent, comfort, and mutual communication between the dom and sub. I hope the models I saw in the photograph on view did not have the same experience. As of now, March 30, 2026, as I write this, no one else has come forward with similar claims, but even one is one too many…

Now back to my review…

My biggest takeaway from Araki’s photos, besides the intricate rope work, is the look on the women’s faces. Some viewers may interpret them as sad or unhappy, but for me, Araki has captured many of them in “subspace,” an almost trance-like meditative erotic space that happens in a BDSM scene when the sub has completely surrendered to a sense of calm. In fact, whether consciously or not, subspace is what both Araki and Harukawa depict in Weight of Desire. Harukawa reveals the ridiculousness in sexual preferences and kinks while still being sexy with voluptuous, dominating women. Araki’s humor is more subtle but still felt, with pleasure, pain, and ultimately complete vulnerability fully displayed.

At first glance, men with their heads being crushed and women tied up seem like two very different things, but they’re not. Both are scenes in which the sub has the real power, even the women in Araki’s photographs who feel safe and trusting enough to allow themselves to be completely out of control. A dom/sub dynamic is based on the sub’s voluntary consent. The sub’s surrender is entirely predicated on the fact that, at any moment, if they feel uncomfortable, need a break, or no longer wants to continue, they have the power to stop a scene. The dominant person’s perceived power and control are, in reality, fragile and temporary. As someone with ADHD, I completely relish the ability to no longer have to make every single decision. It’s rare, but when I’m around someone I can trust, this can be one of the most freeing experiences, while also knowing I have the power to stop or let things go as far as I want. Both Harukawa and Araki perfectly capture this strived-for moment when a person can turn their brain off. And in this chaotic hellscape of 2026 that we are currently living in, witnessing complete surrender feels like just the escape I have been looking for this spring.

 

Alexandria Deters is a Bronx, New York-based artist, writer, archivist, researcher, and fine art appraiser. She is a regular contributing writer for Cultbytes, UP Magazine, and Filthy Dreams. Recent Solo exhibitions: A Common Thread, The Yard, Brooklyn, NY (2025); Historical Fever Dreams, BravinLee, NY, NY (2024), Prophet of the Month, The Living Room, Brooklyn, NY (2022). Recent group exhibitions include: Pillow Princess, 5-50 Gallery, NY, NY (2025), NADA Art Fair Miami (2025); Outsider Art Fair (2025,2024,2023); Every Woman Biennial (2026, 2024, 2021, 2019).