Joe

by Hiroshi Sugimoto (Photographer), Jonathan Safran Foer, Hiroshi Sugimoto (Photographer)

When renowned Hiroshi Sugimoto was invited to photograph the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, his attention immediately focused on an immense steel sculpture, Richard Serra’s Joe, one of the artist’s torqued spirals, which occupies a small courtyard of the museum. Joe allows viewers to walk in through a narrow passage between towering, sloping walls. The path leads to a surprising central space from which only the curving steel walls and the sky are visible. Combining extremely soft light and blurred darkness, Sugimoto’s pictures in this book capture the elliptical nature of Serra’s piece. His images are complemented by the words of Jonathan Safran Foer, whose affecting prose poem—about an "average Joe" experiencing the circular passage of time—echoes, without directly referencing, Serra’s sculpture. Designed by Takaaki Matsumoto, this beautiful, large-format book features tritone reproductions printed on luxurious uncoated stock. The result is an eloquent and visually arresting commentary on time, impermanence, and memory.

Genres: Art, Photography, Fiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 2006

Reviews

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, Hiroshi Sugimoto is clearly smarter than me, and Joe never lets me forget it. But the book is also generous, explaining hard stuff with great examples instead of big words. It lost me for one chapter, maybe two. Good for curious readers who don't mind a challenge, skip if you want light.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe shows that Hiroshi Sugimoto knows how to spot the subtle line where self-protection stops and active complicity with power begins.

[annakatrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

richard serra + hiroshi sugimoto + jonathan safran foer. the beauty of it is almost too much for me--like too formulaic, in a weird way. (ie. one of my favorite sculptors, photographed by one of my favorite photographers, with text by one of my favorite authors. see what i mean? too much.)

[Kim]

does anyone happen to own this?? i'd really, really like to see it... would be willing to pay for the shipping to borrow it and send it back (with a grand surprise)!

[Sally]

I need a copy of this!

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparse mixed media presentation allowing reader to interact and create simultaneously.