by Elizabeth Romero
Daily Lobo
Photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto uses inordinately long exposures, a 19th century camera and 8" x 10" film to make images that are as much about time as about the sea. In an age of speed and digital technology, Sugimoto is actually timeless.
Nine tri-tone, offset lithographs from Sugimoto's portfolio "Time Exposed" are on display at Richard Levy Gallery at 514 Central Ave. until March 8.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1948, Sugimoto came to the United States at age 27 to study photography at the Art Center of Design in Los Angeles. His haunting photographs of empty movie theaters and drive-ins brought him international acclaim.
Sugimoto has also traveled the world photographing architecture and wax museums. An exhibition of his latest architectural photographs will open at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago on Feb. 22. He now lives in New York City.
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In each image the horizon cuts the picture plane in half. There are no people, boats or foreground, only sky and sea. Although they all have this basic composition, they are strikingly different.
"Bay of Biscay, Bakio" appears to have been taken at mid-day. A soft out of focus horizon draws the eye but gives it no place to rest. "South Pacific Ocean, Tearai" at first appears almost black, but as the eye adjusts details arise and sink back into darkness.
My first inclination on seeing these sparse seascapes was to get as close as possible and look at the rich detail, examining ripples on the surface of the ocean and exquisite gradations of light. But by stepping back just a foot or two my eyes and mind adjusted to a different way of seeing -- previously unnoticed light began to glow along a barely visible horizon in "Ionian Sea, Santa Cesarea." The images take time to unfold.
"Some are all atmosphere," gallery owner Richard Levy said. "You can stand there looking the way you look on a foggy beach -- you think you can see the horizon. They draw you in. There are images from all over the world, and they are all minimal and sublime."
Only nine of 50 images are on display at the Richard Levy Gallery; they fill one long wall. Although the emptiness of the other walls does create an environment of quiet simplicity, more seascapes, especially some of the almost white ones would add depth. Prints not on display sit in an elegant aluminum portfolio in the storeroom.
The portfolio was printed in 1991 by Mitsumura Printing Company Ltd., Tokyo, in an edition of 500. Tri-tone printing requires the image to pass through the press three times and the alignment has to be perfect.
Levy describes these prints as examples of the finest offset printing anywhere in the world.
"With a loupe you can see that they are offset -- but just barely," he said.
Nine additional images from the portfolio are on the gallery's Web site, www.LevyGallery.com.
Richard Levy Gallery is at 514 Central Ave. and open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
