About the exhibition
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of the world's leading photographers. This exhibition presents, for the first time in Europe, works from two of his most visually poetic series, Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings. Together they demonstrate Sugimoto's exploration of the very nature of photography.
Using a Van der Graaff generator to induce electrical charges on photographic film, Lightning Fields is an extraordinary series of images that captures in minute detail the remarkable effects of light particles not visible to the human eye. The results evoke a fascinating range of interpretations, from powerful lightning strikes to strange primordial ‘life-forms'.
The Photogenic Drawings series was inspired by the innovative techniques of 19th century photographer Henry Fox Talbot, whose pioneering ‘photogenic drawings' used light-sensitive paper to produce a paper negative. Working from Fox Talbot's original negatives, Sugimoto's vastly scaled-up images are startling in their detail, with a haunting, almost painterly power.
By returning to the very origins of photography, the series demonstrates how capable the art of mechanical reproduction is in revealing powerful inner phenomena.
Towards the Light
Colour woodcuts from Britain and Japan
To complement the exhibition, this free display draws on the print collections of both the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Scotland, examining the influence of traditional Japanese colour woodcut techniques on artists working in Britain and Japan during the early 20th century.