See Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Masterful Creations

Renowned Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto is sharing his life’s work for the first time at the Casa Garriga i Nogués in Spain. The exhibit, titled Black Box, is a tour of 39 of his most prominent photographs taken in five series: Seascapes, Portraits, Theaters, Dioramas and Lightening Fields.

Sugimoto, who has been based in New York since the 1970s, has spent 40 years working with sculptures, architecture, installation and photography. His black-and-white still life’s, portraits and nature images combine beauty and technical virtuosity in an artful look at illusion, perception, representation, life and death. By rejecting digital technology for more traditional methods, Sugimoto’s work reinterprets the classic photographic tradition.

The exhibit also invites viewers to learn about Sugimoto’s current work, exploring how he continues to push the envelop on visual art.

Sugimoto’s work is featured in TIME’s current issue, illustrating an article on the origins of life on Earth and beyond. “Sugimoto is one of the great photographic masters of our age, so it’s an honor to include his work in our magazine,” says TIME senior photo editor Myles Little. “After reading Jeff Kluger’s article, I knew I needed to find an image with weight and majesty. Something awe-inspiring. As Sugimoto once described this project, ‘I see the spark of life itself, the lightning that struck the primordial ooze.’ When I found those images online, I knew they would be perfect.”

The exhibition runs from Feb. 19th to May 8th at the Casa Garriga i Nogués gallery in Barcelona.

Follow TIME LightBox on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.