Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986

Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 Japanese

Not on view

This contemporary work was inspired by a medieval Buddhist “five elements” pagoda designed to contain relics of the Buddha. These pagodas represent the constituents of the cosmos, which are typically identified as earth (square), water (sphere), fire (pyramid), wind (half-moon), and air (jewel shape). The water sphere of this pagoda contains a small photograph of the ocean, printed from a negative that the artist used in the creation of a series of large-scale seascapes.

Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986, Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 (Japanese, born Tokyo, 1948), Optical-quality glass with black-and-white film, Japan

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Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986, Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 (Japanese, born Tokyo, 1948), Optical-quality glass with black-and-white film, Japan
Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986, Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 (Japanese, born Tokyo, 1948), Optical-quality glass with black-and-white film, Japan
Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986, Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 (Japanese, born Tokyo, 1948), Optical-quality glass with black-and-white film, Japan
Five Elements: Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986, Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 (Japanese, born Tokyo, 1948), Optical-quality glass with black-and-white film, Japan

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