Hiroshi Sugimoto: ‘The deeper I discover Shinto and Buddhist artwork, the extra it reveals the self-love of up to date artwork’

It doesn’t get extra site-specific than ‘Hiroshi Sugimoto – The Descendant of the Kasuga Spirit’,  a brand new exhibition at Kasuga-Taisha, an Eighth-century Shinto Shrines advanced within the historical metropolis of Nara in Japan’s Kansai area, which displays the shut relationship between the Kasuga-embraced Japanese artist and the sacred web site. 

Sugimoto, whose inventive expression spans sculpture, pictures, performing artwork and structure, can also be an acclaimed collector of Shinto and Buddhist antiques, notably from Kasuga. For Sugimoto, Shinto – a Japanese animist faith relationship again to the Eighth century whose minimalist aesthetics are the muse of Japanese refinement – got here first. Then Buddhism unfold in Japan and the 2 had been fused. 

‘Kasuga’s artwork got here to me, it’s not the opposite means spherical,’ he says. ‘I be taught immensely from the masterpieces I accumulate. They’re so inspiring. Now that our civilisation is on a downhill trajectory, we must always be taught from the fantastic thing about historical occasions. The deeper I discover Shinto and Buddhist artwork, the extra it reveals the self-love of up to date artwork’, quips the artist. ‘I purchase antiques by promoting my artworks. My assortment generates a round system.’

Thoughtfully curated underneath the supervision of Sugimoto, the present consists of two chapters. The Nationwide Treasure Home showcases greater than 90 Kasuga antiques, equivalent to Kakemonos, objects and masks from the Eighth to the sixteenth century, together with items chosen from the artist’s personal assortment. 

To attach heritage and modernity, Sugimoto has adorned the again of a deer statuette with considered one of his iconic works, 5 parts, a miniature five-storey tower made from optic glass. (In response to Shinto mythology, the Kasuga god appeared on the again of this sacred animal.) If this chapter signifies the artist’s artistic motivations, his new works reveal a daring new path. 

Massive – 215cm x 565cm – folding screens of color pictures are unfold throughout eight panels. For this, he employed the newest digital strategies utilizing emulsion coating to repair enlarged platinum prints on Japanese paper Washi, an experimental method Sugimoto has been exploring in recent times. Platinum prints characteristic richer nuances of black, which add hanging depth to the artist’s ink painting-like pictures, whereas Washi, with its thick, matte, textured high quality, serves as the right materials for Japanese-style screens. 

Two folding screens displayed within the Treasure Home present panoramic pictures of the Kasuga Grand Shrine, captured throughout totally different situations, from totally different angles. However essentially the most spectacular could be discovered at Wakamiya-Jinja, a Twelfth-century auxiliary shrine within the higher space of the worship web site. Positioned in Kagura-den, a corridor dealing with the shrine and devoted to holy dance and music is the Kankitsuzan mountain folding display. The panorama depicts the huge web site of the Enoura Observatory-Odawara Artwork Basis, established by Sugimoto himself in Kanagawa to deal with his architectural masterpieces, artefacts and Shinto artwork assortment. A small purple gateway on the picture is a subsidiary Kasuga shrine that was re-enshrined earlier this yr. 

On the different finish of the corridor is a monochrome {photograph} of air and water, one of many poetic seascapes from the collection Kaikei, shot world wide over a long time. The Japan Sea, immortalised in Sugimoto’s pictures in 1987 has been displayed in many alternative conditions however appears notably dignified on this sanctuary. Certainly, nothing is by chance for Sugimoto, and all the pieces pertains to celebration and respect for nature. ‘Although the traditional animist thoughts seems to be vanishing in trendy civilisation, it nonetheless stays within the coronary heart of Japanese folks. That is what seems in my inventive expression’, says the artist. ‘I really feel so blessed. Typically I obtain revelations in my desires about my subsequent work.’

‘Hiroshi Sugimoto – The Descendant of the Kasuga Spirit’, is on view till 13 March 2023 on the Kasuga-Taisha shrine in Nara, Japan. kasugataisha.or.jp (opens in new tab); sugimotohiroshi.com (opens in new tab)