SFMOMA explores the boundaries of photography and painting with Kunié Sugiura: Photopainting.
Kunié Sugiura, “After Electric Dress Ap, Pink (2001-2002)
Long before Photoshop, Kunié Sugiura revealed countless ways to push the limits of photography. This spring, SFMOMA presents Kunié Sugiura: Photopainting, a groundbreaking exhibition that delves into the decades-long career of a pioneering artist who continually blurs the lines between photography and painting. This marks the first survey exhibition of the artist’s work in the United States, offering an opportunity to explore her rich and evolving oeuvre.
For more than 60 years, Sugiura (kuniesugiura.com) has pushed the boundaries of artistic convention, blending photography with painting and other media to create hybrid works that defy easy categorization. Born in Nagoya, Japan, in 1942, Sugiura immigrated to the U.S. in 1963 to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She experimented with photographic processes, reflecting her bicultural identity and desire to elevate photography as a serious art form.
The artist Kunié Sugiura has been a visionary when it comes to reimaging photography and merging it with other media.
“Sugiura’s many experiments and explorations with the photographic medium upend our notions of what photography can be,” says Christopher Bedford, SFMOMA’s director.
The exhibition is organized chronologically and by series, featuring more than 60 works from the 1960s to 2021. Highlights include early pieces from her Cko series, where she crafted psychedelic compositions that captured her feelings of isolation as an international student. After relocating to New York City in 1967, Sugiura began experimenting with printing photographs on canvas using photo emulsion, which allowed her to create large-scale works such as “Yellow Mum” (1969), combining photography with graphite and acrylic paint.
In the 1970s, Sugiura continued her innovative approach with her Photopaintings series, pairing printed photographs with painted panels. Works like “Deadend Street” (1978) merged monochromatic painted elements with urban scenes from New York, reflecting her evolving perspective on place and memory.
Kunié Sugiura, “Racks” (1994)
Sugiura also embraced the photogram technique in the 1980s, producing haunting silhouettes of animals, flowers and human figures without a camera. Her Artist Papers series includes portraits of notable figures such as Jasper Johns and Daido Moriyama, and her homage to Atsuko Tanaka’s “Electric Dress” showcases her ability to capture movement and form with arresting immediacy.
Even personal health challenges became part of her artistic journey. After facing medical issues in the 1990s, Sugiura incorporated X-ray negatives into her work, a motif she revisited during the pandemic.
Kunié Sugiura, “Untitled Positive” (1997) reveals the drama of photography when melded with other media.
With its breadth, the exhibit offers an intimate look at an artist who has continually redefined what photography can be. As Erin O’Toole, SFMOMA’s curator and head of photography, notes, “Throughout her career, Kunié Sugiura has subverted traditional notions of photography, bravely bucking trends to produce a distinctive body of work that is unmistakably her own.” Through Sep. 14, 151 3rd St., 415.357.4000, sfmoma.org
