Hiroshi Sugimoto - Hatje Cantz

An angled, overhead shot of a square hardcover book titled SUGIMOTO on a plain white background. The book has a light grey cover featuring a square abstract photograph with a color gradient from black to deep blue. The spine reads HIROSHI SUGIMOTO TIME MACHINE.

The back cover of a light grey book is shown at a slight angle against a white background. It features a text blurb describing the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto. Below the text are logos for Hatje Cantz, Hayward Gallery Publishing, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, with a barcode to the right.

An open book is laid flat, displaying a two-page spread with black-and-white photographs of two different dilapidated, grand theaters. In each dark, crumbling auditorium, a large, brightly glowing white screen sits on the stage, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding decay.

An open book on a white surface, displaying a striking black-and-white photograph of a powerful lightning bolt against a pitch-black background. The bright white bolt and its many fine, branching tendrils fill the right-hand page, while the left page is mostly blank white space.

An overhead shot of an open art book on a white surface. The two-page spread displays two minimalist, abstract photographs. The image on the left features a dark top half blending into a vibrant orange bottom half. The image on the right has a similar composition with a dark top half blending into a deep green bottom half.

A table of contents page from an art book about the artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. The page is white with light gray text laid out in two columns. Chapter titles include Dioramas, Theaters and Drive-Ins, Seascapes, Portraits, Architecture, Lightning Fields, and Sea of Buddha, alongside their corresponding page numbers.

A two-page spread from a book. The left page features a large, black-and-white photograph of a polar bear standing over a seal on a snowy landscape, with text above it. The right page contains three columns of dense, black text.

A black-and-white two-page spread from a book, displaying two photographs of animal dioramas. On the left, two ostriches stand over a clutch of eggs in a savanna. On the right, a large bull elk with prominent antlers bugles while surrounded by several female elk in a mountainous landscape.

A high-angle, black-and-white photograph of the lavish interior of an empty opera house, the Palais Garnier in Paris. The view from an upper balcony looks down on rows of seats, ornate boxes lining the walls, a grand chandelier, and a stage that is completely illuminated in white light.

A side-by-side display of two square, minimalist, black and white photographs of seascapes. The photo on the left shows a dark sky over a bright, motion-blurred sea, separated by a sharp horizon. The photo on the right is much darker, with a hazy sky blending into a dark sea at a faint horizon.

A formal, black and white, three-quarter length portrait of a man representing King Henry VIII. He stands in opulent 16th-century royal attire, including a jeweled flat cap, a fur-trimmed robe, and a heavy, ornate chain of office with a large medallion. He has a full beard and an imposing presence, looking slightly to his left against a dark background.

A diptych of two black and white photographs. On the left, a man stands in a prison corridor between two heavy metal doors. On the right, the same man is shown strapped into an electric chair in a narrow, stone-walled room, staring directly ahead.

A soft-focus, black and white photograph on the right side of a page. The image is an artistic, blurry close-up of the Art Deco crown of the Chrysler Building, with sunlight creating glittering highlights. Below the image, the caption reads: Chrysler Building, 1997.

A minimalist black and white photograph showing a white, cone-shaped sculpture with a sharp tip and a wide, curving base. The object is set against a solid dark background, with dramatic side lighting that highlights its textured surface and elegant form. The photo is on the right page of an open book.

A diptych of two tall, slender, metallic sculptures in minimalist settings. On the left, a sculpture with a wide conical base tapers into an extremely fine, needle-like point reaching the ceiling. On the right, a tall, twisting column with a rhythmic, undulating form stands on a short, black base in a gallery space.

A black and white two-page book spread showing a dense, mesmerizing pattern of Buddhist statues. Each of the many figures wears an intricate crown and is surrounded by a halo with radiating lines, filling both pages with a sea of serene faces.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Time Machine

€ 48.00

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Graphic Design: Graphic Thought Facility

Author: Hiroshi Sugimoto

Texts by: James Attlee, Geoffrey Batchen, Allie Biswas, David Chipperfield, Edmund de Waal, Mami Kataoka, Ralph Rugoff, Lara Strongman, Margaret Wertheim

English

October 2023, 216 Pages

Hardcover

274mm x 296mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5532-0

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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Magical Images that Defy Time

Through his expansive exploration of the possibilities of still images, the internationally renowned artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has created some of the most alluringly enigmatic photographs of our time; pictures that are meticulously crafted and deeply thought-provoking, familiar yet tantalisingly ambiguous. Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine is a comprehensive survey of work produced over the past five decades, featuring selections from all of Sugimoto's major photographic series, as well as lesser-known works that illuminate his innovative, conceptually-driven approach to making pictures. Texts by a collection of international writers, artists and scholars―including James Attlee, Geoffrey Batchen, Allie Biswas, David Chipperfield, Edmund de Waal, Mami Kataoka, Ralph Rugoff, Lara Strongman and Margaret Wertheim―will highlight his work's philosophical yet playful inquiry into the nature of representation and art, our understanding of time and memory, and the paradoxical character of photography as a medium suited to both documenting and invention.

The enigmatic works of Japanese photographer HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (*1948, Tokyo) fundamentally questioned the understanding of photography. He studied sociology and politics in Tokyo, before moving to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, where he gained a BFA from the Art Center College of Design. In 1974 he settled in New York, where he created his first series, Dioramas. His main artistic interests include architecture, abstract forms and intangible phenomena.

EXHIBITION
Hayward Gallery, London
October 11, 2023-January 1, 2024

UCCA, Beijing
March 16, 2024-June 16, 2024

»In images that transfix and mystify, the great Japanese photographer seems to conjure a dream state outside of time and place in this magnificent first UK retrospective.«

The Guardian