Chrysler Building

Hiroshi Sugimoto has described his "Architecture" series as a recreation of "imaginative visions of the architecture before the architect built the building" (cit., Sugimoto: Architecture, MCA Chicago D.A.P., 2003). His exploration of modernist architecture indeed recalls the dreamlike compositions favored historically by photographers such as Edward Steichen. Chrysler Building depicts the dome of the American deco monument ripped from its modernist context, a view that has been canonized in tourist photography. In his photograph, Sugimoto's blurry view suggests a foggy, almost tearful recollection of the architect's utopian dream. The partial illumination rejuvenates the otherwise foggy image that the artist called "architecture after the end of the world." Chrysler Building depicts Sugimoto's ambivalence toward modernist symbols, recalling both optimism and fragility in modern architecture. After the September 11th attacks, this point of view is even more poignant, as our visual culture realizes that no symbol is infallible.