akos czigany pays homage to hiroshi sugimoto with 'skies' series

akos czigany pays homage to hiroshi sugimoto with ‘skies’ series
(above) ‘sky R0012609’, 2010/2014
image courtesy of akos czigany and várfok gallery

as early as 2010, celebrated hungarian photographer akos czigany began work on his series ‘skies: hommage à hiroshi sugimoto’. beginning with an extensive research on japanese photography that focused on key works by artists shomei tomatsu, hiroshi sugimoto, and toshio shibata, czigany’s own project elaborates on these references in both theory and practice. in dialogue with, and in tribute to, art and architectural history — particularly sugimoto’s series of ‘theatres’ — czigany’s ‘skies’ are captured in the courtyards of apartment buildings in budapest.

‘sky 252-9’, 2010/2011
image courtesy of akos czigany and várfok gallery

tilted vertically upwards, the camera sees the building’s floors extending seemingly endlessly into the sky, forming both symmetrically-regular and strangely-irregular shapes and geometries. the back-and-white architectural abstractions are conceived as ‘a manifold dialogue between man’s two homes, the city and the sky, and by extension, between cosmos and architecture, light and shadow, center and frame, abstraction and function, void and décor,’ czigany describes. ‘the variety of celestial shapes carved out by the buildings also constitute a system of graphic signs — a sort of language.’

‘sky R0012617’, 2010/2014
image courtesy of akos czigany and várfok gallery

the series has been presented widely across europe in both solo and group exhibitions, and has been awarded numerous honors. while the most significant collection of ‘skies’ is owned by the hungarian museum of photography, an important exhibition in 2013 at the hungarian national gallery in budapest spotlighted 12 ‘skies’ as part of a comprehensive show of contemporary photography from the country.

beginning on june 23, ‘skies’ is presented in new york as a satellite program to the retrospective of hungarian painter and photographer moholy-nagy at the guggenheim — on from now until september 7, 2016. the collateral, two-part show highlights modern and contemporary hungarian photography, presenting czigany’s works for the exhibition ‘echoes’ at new york’s alma gallery.

‘sky 8888’, 2014
image courtesy of akos czigany and várfok gallery

‘ákos czigány’s photography — with its purity, geometrical beauty and metaphorical conceptual richness — calls for deep contemplation,’ writes anna gács for the exhibition catalogue at the hungarian national gallery. ‘this is taciturn art, and it is the tight-lipped nature of the works that gives rise to a proliferation of associations in those who contemplate them. as we look at these photographs — almost annoyingly simple in terms of their subject matter and sensory quality — issues of philosophy and aesthetics, the diverse heritage of the history of photography, and the practices and beliefs of science and faith are brought to life and into mutual dialogue.’

‘sky R0012553’, 2010/2014
image courtesy of akos czigany and várfok gallery