Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photography is the essence of calm. I love all his photographs, especially his seascapes, but these theaters were the first photos of his I ever saw, and they’ve stuck with me. They will stick with you too because they are evidence of creative genius. He had this thought:
“Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? And the answer: You get a shining screen.”
…and then went into a theater, set up a camera, and kept the aperture open for the length of the film
HIroshi Sugimoto, Cinerama Dome, Hollywood, 1993. © Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto, Orinda Theater, Orinda, 1992. © Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto, Paramount, Oakland, 1994. © Hiroshi Sugimoto
Movies have so much meaning for me, as they do for everyone. It’s interesting to see what they are, just light on a screen. It’s really so simple.
The simplicity can be applied to artists like Cezanne and Picasso with what they were trying to say with their flat planes of color: just paint on a canvas. Movies, like paintings, use a medium (light) to create an illusion that we deeply fall for and become involved with.
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