JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white photographs, 2 fossils in glass cases, and 1 sculpture, displayed against grey and black walls in a winding series of four connected spaces. The first small room contains 3 gelatin silver prints (from the diorama series), framed in black, and two fossils (one meteorite fragment and one slab of Mississippi sea bottom), displayed in low light against grey walls. 2 of the prints are 20×24 from 1992, in editions of 25, the other is 47×73, in an edition of 5. The larger front and back rooms have black walls and are completely dark, with bright spot lights on the works. In each room, a pair of monumental gelatin silver panoramas are hung side by side, covering an entire long wall. Each unframed panorama is made up of 6 panels, each entire work measuring 59×23 and 1/2 feet, printed in editions of 5. There are a total of 7 single image gelatin silver lightning field prints spread across the two rooms, framed in silver with no mat, each 59×47, also printed in editions of 5. The sculpture is set apart in the front room, a Tesla coil in birdcage on a stand. A narrow room is situated between the front and back rooms, with grey walls and bright natural light from the overhead skylight. This room contains 7 gelatin silver seascapes from 1987-1993, framed in silver with no mat, each 47×59, printed in editions of 5. A catalogue of the exhibition is available from the gallery for $50. (Installation shots at right, via Pace.)
Comments/Context: Hiroshi Sugimoto’s first show at Pace (having recently joined the stable from Gagosian) is a potent reminder of the power of presentation. Rather than offer a predictable sampler of new and old work in this cavernous space, the artist has used architecture (dividing walls and rooms) and lighting (both dark and light) to transform the viewer’s experience, controlling the narrative flow and recontextualizing the prior work in new and unexpected ways. The gallery has evolved from a formless white space into a rich storytelling environment to be experienced, where the production values of the entertainment have become almost as important as the work itself.
The show also contains a selection of seascapes and dioramas, work we have seen many times before, but which has been reimagined here in the context of Sugimoto’s “beginning of the world” narrative. The seascapes have been hung a narrow room with heavenly pure light, all of them day views, including the one at the end of the space which is bathed in glare. What I found fascinating is that they no longer seemed to me to be sublime exercises in timeless meditative contemplation. Instead, these images were transformed by the installation into documents of a specific ancient place and time, when the world was covered by seas in every direction, a kind of alien water planet. The tight installation creates the feeling of being in the middle of it all, surrounded by the flat expanse as far as the eye can see. Similarly, the small room at the entry of the show gathers a few of Sugimoto’s natural history dioramas. But there are no familiar polar bears and jackals here, only puzzling biological forms attached to sandy sea bottoms. Juxtaposed with a few fossils (not unlike his spectacular show at the Japan Society a few years ago), and once again, the images have been reimagined. Now instead of a witty inversion of fake and real, the dioramas are documenting yet another period of specific time, as the first organisms started to form and develop. The show thus becomes a continuous historical timeline, from the first sparks of unruly energy to the evolution of life in many forms. While there is still a bit of the “old wine in a new bottle” feel here, I was amazed at how thoroughly the old work could be successfully reconsidered in relation to the new images..
Collector’s POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The large panoramas are $750000 each, the seascapes are $400000, the single image lightning fields are $80000, and the dioramas are either $120000 or between $20000 and $25000 based on size. Sugimoto’s work is readily available at auction, at a variety of price points. His Time Exposed portfolio can generally be had at auction for between $3000 and $11000. Small individual prints (in the range of 20×24) typically range between $10000 and $90000. The largest prints (seascapes, wax portraits and architecture) have recently started at $100000 and continued all the way up to over $1 million.Transit Hub:
