Comments on: On photographing sculpture

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:51:23 +0000

I have to agree about the recent Sugimoto work as compared to his earlier work. I especially love his theater and seascapes, but I just don’t get the architectural work (at least not in any non-intellectual way).

One more artist I would throw in that creates an intersting intersection of photography and sculpture in Zeke Berman.

By: rob

rob — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:52:33 +0000

Sugimoto has a long history of photographing sculptures in various guises. Natural history dioramas, hall of 33 buddhas, wax portraits, and even praise of shadows (for what is a candle flame, if not a sculpture of light?). So I can see why he took this on. But it is too literal and obvious for most fans I suspect, including myself.

To be perfectly blunt, I don’t think Jonathan Safran Foer’s text helps either, no matter what words he uses. Twice Infinity reduced to something closer to, well, zero. The NY Times has had a long relationship with Foer so it is no surprise the article is more him than Sugimoto.

The other obvious photographer of sculpture was Brassai, especially with his anthology of Picasso’s work.

By: Bill Sullivan

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:38:55 +0000

Love the Serra -Sugimoto post!
Exactly my thought – posters mounted on aluminum though which is very nice

And Serra’s description of his “collaboration” with Ando in the actual Times was priceless
I did this, I did that, I did this, I did that …and yes of course you can say it was a collaboration

It is funny about back in ‘88 when I was one 2 painting majors at GTown U
Serra’s popularity was on the wane during the height of neo expressionism and Neo Geo
And so he came to give a lecture at the school

He was mostly angry then always wearing a jumpsuit railing at the Reagan administration
deeply embroiled in the Tilted Arc controversy – it was pre-Gehry
before he found the right software and stuff

But for the important artist lecture they wanted to make a brochure – Serra refused to use any his images for a brochure He said that images of his work were no more than pornography ! – they pushed for something
finally he relented and allowed a cut-out with a picture and info that could easily assembled into a maquette of the tilted arc to be given out during the lecture.

…..about 8 yrs later , I think in a Whitney Biennial – there appeared simple framed photos of his sculptures taken by his wife.

By: Alec Soth

Alec Soth — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:28:24 +0000

Good thing I never make big prints.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:21:49 +0000

I agree.. I picked up a copy of the new Sugimoto, Joe book, clearly the work fell very short from his inspirational early Seascapes, Theaters, and Architecture projects.

Ha! The new $75,000 photograph.. is probably here to stay! It’s right up there with the 10,000+ square foot Hamptons McMansion, and the Hummer H2… all very telling of the excess in the USA at the turn of the millennium!

By: Matt Niebuhr

Matt Niebuhr — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 05:19:46 +0000

This post makes me think about how much we privilege the eye and how powerfully misleading the visual can be…. and this makes me think about the way that most photography tends to freeze the moment and present a certain gaze – a distilling of a physical experience onto a one dimensional plane – because of course photography deals only with the eye (as the portal) – then the mind must imagine all the rest. The mind must recreate the space that is only visually presented (through light and shadow)… We can’t climb into a photograph after all! What of all the senses that do not come into play – What of sound? – Does the wind make sound as to goes over – around or through – and is it amplified in a way (thinking of Serra’s works) that makes you aware of an unseen curve ahead? What of smell ? and of course (when allowed) what of touch… are you standing on grass? Is the steel cold – or hot to the touch from the sun? Is it wet? All of this sensory input creates a deeper impression – helps us form an understanding and maybe draw some conclusions. It is in short a much richer experience.

I wonder if the emptiness (Sugimoto’s pictures) is that so much is inherently left out in a photograph of sculpture (or architecture for that matter) that these particular pictures only barely begin to inform our experience and yet leave strong impressions (different than your experiences?).

This is how photographs lie and tell other stories (and sometimes very good ones !!) You alluded to this in your experience of Richard Long’s works….

Great subject – worth thinking more about !