Hiroshi Sugimoto

by Kerry Brougher, David Elliott

Hiroshi Sugimoto's images freeze time and space, revealing the workings of our own vision, slowing down the act of perception long enough that it becomes a palpable component of his work. His earliest photographs were images of decadent movie palaces built in the 20s and 30s. By timing the exposure of his photos to the exact length of the film being screened, he produced images that depict theater interiors bathed in the magical glare of an all-white screen: pure light. Next Sugimoto began a body of work that he continues to this day, photographing views of the sea from land, traveling around the world to make pictures that, despite their vastly different geographic origins, seem at first to be the same, with only slight variations. Their captions, however, confirm that each is of a different body of water: Caspian, Ligurian, Black. Other series include his out-of-focus impressions of landmark architectural monuments, wherein the Empire State Building, Le Corbusier's "Chapel de Notre Dame du Haut," and Tadao Ando's "Church of Light in Osaka," among others, are essentialized rather than documented. This volume presents a monographic retrospective of Hiroshi Sugimoto's complete body of work, including the projects described above and others. New, mostly unpublished images from his recent color work are featured: impressions of the impeccably proportioned shrine Sugimoto designed in Naoshima Island in Japan, as well as a series entitled "Colors of Shadow," Specially commissioned essays by photography curators David Elliot and Kerry Brougher examine Sugimoto's work in depth, while an exhibition history and bibliography round out the volume.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Japan

368 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2005

Reviews

[Paul H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the easiest way to describe Sugimoto's work is that he is the least amateurish photographer of all time. Where most photographers allow for a bit of sloppiness or chaos or subjectivity or imperfection, there's a genius-level crystallization of intent/form/content in Sugimoto's work, every print is perfect, every project is interesting, somehow the photos seem to descend from the empyrean and transfer themselves directly onto prints without human intervention.

Sugimoto is also arguably the most consistently good photographer; even if I'm not personally interested in a couple of his projects (e.g., the dioramas or the mathematical models), they're still really good, I can recognize that it's just a preference on my part. Even my favorite photographer, Andreas Gursky, has had some weak projects (especially in the past decade); similarly for Ernst Haas, Bill Henson, or any of the other truly great photographers -- but not Sugimoto. While I've read many thousands of photobooks, I physically own maybe 200, given how expensive they are; this was the third or fourth one that I bought.

[Owlseyes]

[Jin-Ah Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most devastatingly gorgeous seascapes you'll ever view with the human eye

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

also encountered his work , while staying at the Park Benesse House, Naoshima, Japan, for a night, two day stay….Feb 22-23rd, 2011. This museum-hotel was also designed by Tadao Ando “Park offers views of a verdant green lawn and the sparkling sea, with the mountains of Shikoku rising up in the distance against a bright blue sky.” Our room had a James Turrell picture (he designed works at the various spots/Chichu Art Museum and Museum and Art House Projects. The Sugimoto photos are in different sections of these four "hotel mueums"...some are outside, some are inside. To be enjoyed by guests. They're beautiful, haunting, and mesmeric.

[c lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh so beautiful- i love everything he's done- but the theaters are some of my favorite photographs ever.

[Brandy Blaylock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning. This guy is operating on a much higher brain level than the majority of us.

[Silvia Alcantara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Seascapes photographs