Adjusting the camera’s lens to what Sugimoto calls ‘Twice Infinity’ – he presents architecture as blurred forms, softening the concrete walls and harsh angles of Modernism. His images break down the façades and show time and detail together, muted in harmony.
“A finished building is a product of negotiation; I used an out-of-focus technique in an effort to regain a sense of the architect’s core idealist vision for the building.”
These photos are evocative of the images or shapes that are left behind in your eyelids after looking at something meaningful for a long time and it’s almost as if you have seen the buildings up, close and personal. One of the most important images he has produced, in my opinion, is that of the World Trade Centre – two towers – iconic for their disappearance but most of all their feat of engineering.
There is an exhibition showing the full size works of Sugimoto on at the Barbican now. Tickets are £8.