Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948) is a New York-based contemporary artist. Though rigorous pursuit of the medium of photography combined with original concepts and the highest craftsmanship, his beautifully powerful images have entranced viewers the world over. To better fathom the full measure of Sugimoto’s oeuvre, we have embarked upon a program of unprecedented scale: four separate exhibitions by the artist over the course of one year, collectively titled Hiroshi Sugimoto: The Origins of Art.
“The time has come for us look back in order to read the unforeseeable that lies ahead.” Sugimoto believes today’s art must trace its origins, an endeavor tantamount to tracing the origins of human consciousness itself, hence the four exhibitions focus respectively on the four fundamentals that have shaped our awareness most?Science, Architecture, History and Religion.
This first exhibition looks at the spirit of Science. With fear and trepidation, humans approached nature and set forth explicating all they encountered. Sugimoto himself has drawn inspiration from the likes of Faraday, Talbot and Newton to conduct exacting observations and experiments, probes into the very essence of phenomena resulting in images of primal dynamism. Concentrated distillations of scientific curiosity, these works may very well awaken an awe of nature lying dormant deep inside the viewer.