Thursday, June 02, 2005

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Hiroshi Sugimoto gave the Walter Annenberg Annual Lecture at the Whitney Museum of American Art last May 18th.

He is an artist who uses photography to portrait the notion of time. From sea landscape, architecture and wax figures, time is always the key element.

In his out of focus images of buildings what you see is a timeless interpretation that anyone can relate to. Showing them in sharp focus would take away the characteristics that make them unique. For example, the Guggenheim Museum in New York needs to be repainted, but those are irrelevant details that do not add up to what makes it a landmark.

His latest work is no longer photography, but architecture. He designed a Go’o shrine in Naoshima Island in Japan. The same region where the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi used to work. In addition, his own studio in Tokyo was built to explore the concept of form and light.

There is no a single person in his images, emphasizing the impression that his work is ageless.