Hiroshi Sugimoto

Hiroshi Sugimoto (杉本博司, Sugimoto Hiroshi), born on February 23, 1948, is a Japanese photographer currently dividing his time between Tokyo, Japan and New York City, USA. His catalog is made up of a number of series, each having a distinct theme and similar attributes.

Life and Works

Hiroshi Sugimoto was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. In 1970, Sugimoto studied politics and sociology at St. Paul’s University in Tokyo. Later, he retrained as an artist and received his BFA in Fine Arts at the Art Center College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, two years later in 1972. Afterward, Sugimoto settled in New York City. Sugimoto has spoken of his work as an expression of ‘time exposed’, or photographs serving as a time capsule for a series of events in time. His work also focuses on transience of life, and the conflict between life and death.

Sugimoto is also deeply influenced by the writings and works of Marcel Duchamp, as well as the Dadaist and Surrealist movements as a whole. He has also expressed a great deal of interest in late 20th century modern architecture.

His use of an 8×10 large-format camera and extremely long exposures have garnered Sugimoto a reputation as a photographer of the highest technical ability. He is equally acclaimed for the conceptual and philosophical aspects of his work.

Sugimoto began his work with "Dioramas" in 1976, a series in which he photographed displays in natural history museums. The cultural assumption that cameras always show us reality tricks many viewers into assuming the animals in the photos are real until they examine the pictures carefully. His series "Portraits", begun in 1999, is based on a similar idea. In that series, Sugimoto photographs wax figures of Henry VIII and his wives. These wax figures are based on portraits from the 1500s and when taking the picture Sugimoto attempts to recreate the lighting that would have been used by the painter.

Begun in 1978, Sugimoto's "Theatres" series involved photographing old American movie palaces and drive-ins, exposing the film for the duration of the entire film, the film projector providing the sole lighting. The luminescent screen in the centre of the composition, the architectural details and the seats of the theatre are the only subjects in the photographs, and the unique lighting gives the works a surreal look, as a part of Sugimoto's attempt to reveal time in photography.

Sugimoto is also an accomplished architect, approaching his work from many different perspectives and architecturally is one that he uses to design the settings for his exhibitions. He also gets involved with the performance art occurring beside them. This allows him to frame his works precisely the way he wants to. [citation | title= Hiroshi Sugimoto | author=Robert Ayers | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2006 | date= June 30, 2006 | url=http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/18660/hiroshi-sugimoto/ | accessdate=2008-04-21 ]

Awards

2001 Hasselblad Foundation International Award (Hasselblad Honour).

ee also

David Hockney

References

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/sugimoto/ Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips] from PBS series "" - Season 3 (2005).
* [http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/ official webpage]
* [http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/sugimoto/ 2006 Virtual Exhibition at the Hirshhorn]
* [http://www.thepulitzer.org Interactive web catalogue for "Hiroshi Sugimoto: Photographs of 'Joe' " at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts]
* [http://www.SHPcontemporary.com/Sugimoto Hiroshi Sugimoto at SHPcontemporary fine art]
* [http://www.gagosian.com/artists/hiroshi-sugimoto/ Hiroshi Sugimoto at Gagosian Gallery]
* [http://www.luminous-lint.com/__sw.php?action=ACT_SING_PH&p1=Hiroshi__Sugimoto&p2=ABCDEFGHIJKLN Listing at Luminous Lint]