Landscape of the American Southwest

Araki’s success as an industrial designer enabled frequent overseas travel, which in turn had an enormous impact on his painting. Based partially in Tokyo and Taipei, he also spent significant time in Hong Kong and regularly visited the United States on business. There were also trips to Miami and Haiti, weeks spent at friends’ homes on Long Island and in the Southwestern United States. He maintained painting studios in several of these locales—Taipei, Tokyo, New York, and at the home of close friends in Tucson, Arizona. The beauty of the surrounding Santa Catalina Mountains and Sonoran Desert inspired several paintings including this splashed-ink-and-color mountainscape dominated by reds and punctuated by cacti and other desert plants.