Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Exposed

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Summary: The blank screens of Hiroshi Sugimoto
Review: Can others see us more clearly than we see ourselves? Hiroshi Sugimoto, 49, was born in Japan but has lived in the United States for more than half his life. His serene photographs of drive-in theatres and movie palaces pay tribute to the role played by the cinema in the creation of a modern American myth. Another series, of dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, looks at these tableaux of prehistoric nature and wildlife as actual moments frozen in time. Characterized by extremely long exposures, Sugimoto's images compress time while enlarging our understanding of what the decisive moment in photography can mean. Other series, of seascapes, or of Buddhas, seem timeless. In 1996 Sugimoto became one of the few contemporary photographers to have a major solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. See also Motion Picture by Hiroshi Sugimoto (Milano: Skira, 1995) [isbn 88 8118 025 1