hiroshi sugimoto has a show up at the japan socoety which i’ll wager money is an impressive one. it’s called a history of history. morgan meis of 3 quarks daily mused on the subject today, saying: His concern for history sometimes feels like a tribute to its struggle against time. But, then again, the mood of Sugimoto’s inquiry suggests that he is an observer from outside, peering at history from the vantage point of eternity. How else could he dare contend that he is producing a history of history. Such is the stuff of gods or extraterrestrials or brains in a vat. Indeed, a person could be forgiven for thinking that Sugimoto is one of Epicurus’ gods, surveying the course of history from the intermundus, the space between worlds, with a sublime indifference. if you are unfamiliar with sugimoto work see below for a sampling.

the images above span many years of sugimoto’s career collecting pieces from a slew of different series. there is the portrait series taken of wax dummies of historical figures. the theater series in which long exposure shots were taken of screens for the duration of a film’s showing.  the Hall of Thirty Three Bays series made in a 13th Century Buddhist temple in Japan. the architecture series which consists of slightly out-of-focus monochrome prints of classic modern buildings. his seascapes series. his early museum dioramas series. as well as the more recent methematical forms and mechanical forms.

in my view sugimoto’s not only creates great images from everything he lays his eye on but he’s got the conceptual chops to match. seems he’s just that type of artist. home-run after home-run without pause. he’ll almost certainly be remembered as a master.

for more on him and his work try the following:

the art 21 page from pbs which includes slideshows and audio.

a bio and decent interview via eyestorm.

slow dissolve from the guardian.

some words about his portrait series.

and 18 pages of images from artnet.