Year: 1998
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: image size : 42.3 x 54.2 cm (16 5/8 x 21 3/8 in.) sheet size : 47.8 x 57.9 cm (18 3/4 x 22 3/4 in.)
Edition: No. 12 of 25
Acquired from SBI Art Auction, 2023
This is one of Sugimoto’s representative “Seascapes” series of works, showing a view of the horizon of Sagami Bay from Atami City. As if Sugimoto recalls the opening of the Enoura Observatory, a complex that is the culmination of his comprehensive aesthetic sense, the seascape of Sagami Bay from Odawara to Atami is close to Sugimoto’s formative experience. Among the “Seascapes” series taken around the world, the Atami series which has an especially strong personal connection to Sugimoto is a set of photographs that seems to reveal more vividly the spirit of Hiroshi Sugimoto in the abstract images. Particularly in this work, the horizon in other “Seascapes” which completely bisects the sky and the sea, is blurred as if that boundary has vanished behind the haze. Except for the locality of neighboring lands, there is no clear division between the oceans that unite the world, and the same is true of the sky. In Sugimoto’s “Seascape,” he tries to show the solemn fact that these two overwhelming domains have existed since the creation of the world until now, as well as the vast time that has passed between them in a quiet and repeated way. The very tiny existence like human beings and time are made relative by the horizon. Standing in front of the ambiguous horizon in this work, it is no longer a question of whether or not the horizon can be captured as a photograph, but rather a reflection of oneself in the face of this unchanging phenomenon, coming to realize that it is Sugimoto’s underlying spirit in this “Seascape.”
