Hiroshi Sugimoto was
born in Tokyo, Japan in 1948, and lives and works in New York and
Tokyo. His interest in art began early.
His reading
of André Breton’s writings led to his discovery of
Surrealism and Dada and a lifelong connection to the work and philosophy
of Marcel Duchamp. Central to Sugimoto’s work is the idea
that photography is a time machine, a method of preserving and
picturing memory and time. This theme provides the defining principle
of his ongoing series including, among others, “Dioramas” (1976-);
“Theaters” (1978-); and “Seascapes” (1980-).
Sugimoto sees with the eye of the sculptor, painter, architect,
and philosopher. He uses
his camera in a myriad of ways to create images that seem to convey
his subjects’ essence, whether architectural, sculptural,
painterly, or of the natural world. He places extraordinary value
on craftsmanship, printing his photographs with meticulous attention
and a keen understanding of the nuances of silver-print making
and its potential for tonal richness in his seemingly infinite
palette of blacks, whites, and grays. Recent projects include an
architectural commission at Naoshima Contemporary Art Center in
Japan, for which Sugimoto designed and built a Shinto shrine, and
the photographic series, “Conceptual Forms,”
inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s
“Large Glass: The Bride Stripped Bare by her
Bachelors, Even.” Sugimoto
has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the
National Endowment for the Arts; the 2001 Hasselblad Foundation
International Award in Photography; and has had one-person exhibitions
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art,
New York; LAMoCA; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; MCA Chicago;
and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, among others. The Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, and the Mori Art Museum,
Tokyo, are joint organizers of a 2005 Sugimoto retrospective.
For additional biographic & bibliographic information:
Sonnabend Gallery, New York | Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco |
