Seascapes | Hiroshi Sugimoto
North Pacific Ocean, Iwate, 1986
Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986
North Atlantic Ocean, Cliffs of Moher, 1989
Tasman Sea, Ngarupupu, 1990
Black Sea, Ozuluce, 1991
Red Sea, Safaga, 1992
Tyrrhenain Sea, Scilla, 1993
Water and air.
So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention―and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.
The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there [be] water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let’s just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for another similar example. Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea.
Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing.
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Seascapes
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles
1994
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R
History of Our World 
Really beautiful. I particularly like the Red Sea image. I was actually just talking about Sugimoto in class today regarding photography’s struggle to obtain a timeless quality more so than other art forms. People like Nan Goldin whose work was very popular when they were showing, 20 years later, seems to be nothing more than scandalous photographs that anyone could find on the internet today.
Sugimoto’s work tends to transcend all that. His images and concepts blend so beautifully together and neither the aesthetics nor the concepts stand out more. I think in that, he has achieved a level of timelessness in his photography that I think many others struggle with.
His work also lends itself time and time again to beautiful exhibitions if handled by the proper curator. I’ve seen at least two examples in person of expertly presented Sugimoto work and countless others in books.
Do not stop this website, ever.
[…] A japán tengeres kép,amit kerestem. […]
I am a photography student with the wonderment of researching landscapes with Hiroshi Sugimoto. The beauty of the sea and its moods seem to have been photographed with eternal time as their audience. I have sailed and felt the fear and awe of the eternal horizon always our of reach.
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[…] 2010 – Voor aanvang was ik in deze categorie vrijwel alleen bekend met de Seascapes van Hiroshi Sugimoto. De eerste kennismaking was overigens een tamelijk louwe. “O leuk horizons. Ja leuk. Wel […]