HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
The Origins of Love, 2004
The complete portfolio of eight offset prints and pigmented colour iris print, on Parilux gloss text paper, mounted to 4-ply Rising Museum Board, framed
29.5 × 27.5 cm each
The Origins of Love explores the evolution of human’s desire for love, intimacy and companionship. The eight photographs from Sugimoto’s 'Dioramas' series, begun in 1976, capture and survey natural history displays in museums throughout the United States, such as in The American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Sugimoto examines the manner in which cultures tell their stories of evolution and development through visual means. This process reveals the parallels between the artifice of natural history displays and that of his photographs of contemporary culture.
Sugimoto investigates further the posed nature of the figures in 'The Music Lesson', the first colour photograph the artist has chosen to exhibit. This image presents a waxworks staging of Johannes Vermeer’s work of the same name. Twice removed from its original subject, Sugimoto’s photograph is ripe with rich, almost candied colours as he recasts the Dutch painting tradition in a decidedly contemporary mode.
An internationally acclaimed artist, Hiroshi Sugimoto moved to the United States in the mid-1970s, where he began studying photography. Since then, Sugimoto has used photography and printmaking to explore themes such as “Theatres,” “Seascapes,” and “Architecture.” His works are widely collected by museums in Europe and the United States, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Museum of Modern Art (New York), and The Tate Gallery (London).