Back to share the stories

So I am back after quite a long time away and what an amazing set of events unraveled themselves along the way. Firstly, Unseen in Amsterdam and what a truly great new photo fair that certainly did have that festival flair! The space was an old gas works, which meant that all the galleries were given a slice of the circle. The opening was a great night, with all the Dutch locals out in style including Viktor & Rolf. The fair seemed to be a great success and I highly recommend attending next year.

Now, my first Book Launch in Tegenbochvanvreden Gallerie was a real success, many people turned up to see 1 book being made in front of their eyes and with a lovely introduction to the work by one of the directors, we all sipped sparkling wine and had a great night!

Then onto the following day where I spoke at Unseen Speakers Corner, part of the new Foam Talent Launch, (although I was a winner in 2010) with Marcel Feil. It was a very interesting talk, talking amongst the new winners about their work and what Photography meant to all of us.

Then onto a Master's Dinner were we enjoyed a fantastic meal, plenty of wine and much talk about Photography then onwards to the party, which was very funny and very enjoyable, a great 5 days, then en route to France!

http://www.tegenboschvanvreden.com/exhibitions/current/

http://unseenamsterdam.com/

Performative Book Launch - Thursday 20th at 20:00 at tegenboschvanreden gallerie in Amsterdam

So it has finally arrived! My very first publication is complete, so to celebrate, you are all welcome to the performative book launch on Thursday 20th at 20:00 at tegenboschevanreden gallerie in Amsterdam, a short bike ride from all the major venues of UNSEEN Photo Fair.

The launch will showcase the new publication, alongside this I will be making one book live in the gallery, hand placing all 66 stickers, placing the dust-jackets on and finalising a Special Edition Boxed book.

For sales enquiries please contact studio.melindajgibson@gmail.com

NOWNESS

Melinda Gibson: Unseen

Cut-Out Collages Using Wolfgang Tillmans and  Nan                                                             Goldin Debut at Amsterdam’s New Photo Fair

Dismembered photographs by luminaries such as Cindy Sherman, Corinne Day and Juergen Teller feature in rising photo-artist Melinda Gibson’s new series of visual remixes. Sourcing her material from curator Charlotte Cotton’s book The Photograph as Contemporary Art, Gibson cut up and rearranged images from some of photography's greatest figures into multilayered compositions to explore the circulation and canonization of iconic images. “When working with such profound imagery, cutting into them isn’t any easy task,” admits Gibson, who has been commissioned by Yohji Yamamoto to create a series remixing its entire archive for the 40th anniversary of Y's. “But what you gain is a greater understanding of how these images were composed and why they have become so prominent.” In collaboration with design studio Kummer & Herrman, Gibson has turned the project into a conceptual book project. Uniquely, the series of collages and their accompanying text have been printed as stickers, which Gibson then fixes into the book by hand. Each of the editions takes the artist around three hours to complete, and is numbered with the exact time and date of completion. The first edition of Amsterdam’s much-anticipated Unseen Photo Fair will play host to a performance-led launch of the new book with Gibson laying bare the painstaking process by constructing one live.

Tags:

 

Photography , 

Art , 

Books , 

Yohji Yamamoto , 

Cindy Sherman , 

Amsterdam , 

Nan Goldin , 

Juergen Teller , 

Corinne Day , 

Melinda Gibson , 

Unseen Photo Fair , 

Charlotte Cotton , 

Wolfgang Tillsmans , 

The Photograph as Contemporary Art , 

Kummer & Herrman , 

Y's

Amazing article on NOWNESS.com about my new book "The Photograph as Contemporary Art". Book Launch information to follow later today.

HCP Exhibition Opens Tonight

Tonight is the opening of my new exhibition "In Appropriation"at the HCP, (Houston Centre of Photography) in Texas. Alas, I can not attend as I am stuck to my book, sticking away, but if you are around please head over tonight as the curator will be present and from what I hear across the water, the show looks incredible, installation shots to follow.

In the meantime, I will update you on all things book related, as I confirm the last details of the book launch which will be in Amsterdam first then onto London. Keep looking for updates as I post more about the performative launch taking place over Unseen Photo Fair.

13,200 stickers, 200 books Arrived!

Oh my god they have arrived!!!!! I can't really say more other than I better get sticking. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and had such patience with this project, now it's my time and patience thats needed..... Let's get sticking!

In Appropriation

New Show opens next Friday 7th September in Houston, Texas at the HCP. Curated by Aaron Schuman, who also has written the foreword to my book has a curated this exhibition which includes just 5 photographers; Broomberg & Chanarin, Seba Kurtis, Esther Teichmann and Michael Wolf.

In Appropriation’ presents a selection of contemporary photographers who directly instigate strikingly new photographic work through the appropriation of pre-existing imagery – whether it be found, historical, canonical, personal, archival or otherwise. 

‘Appropriation’ has been an important conceptual strategy within the visual arts for nearly a century.  But in the case of the artists presented here, this act is not purely a matter of taking an image from one context – be it history, advertising, or the vernacular – and placing it within another: that of the gallery, the museum, ‘fine art’.  Instead, these photographers are carefully examining, incorporating, and then transforming – or riffing off of –such pictures in an effective, engaging, and incredibly original manner.  

Within the digital age, photography’s past and present (and in a sense, its future) have collapsed and merged, and at the same time have been revealed to be seemingly infinite and ever-growing.  This exhibition represents a new generation of practitioners who are harnessing the power of this collective mass of imagery, and are using it to instigate and inspire brave new forms of critical inquiry, creative experimentation, political engagement and personal expression.

Read more here: http://hcponline.org/gallery.asp?pageid=12&galid=1597

On The Printing Press

So, its all go! Last Wednesday I flew to Amsterdam to head over to my printers Robstolk in central Amsterdam. I was collected by Jacqueline at the airport and we arrived in the early morning to a wealth of printing activity. The black and white plates for the interior book sheets had already been on and all the material was waiting my approval on palettes. 

After the final approval of the text pieces, the full colour plates where put onto the printing press and sticker production started! It was an incredible day, working with the printers to colour balance all the pieces and see the printing press in action - what an amazing machine. 

The images above are just a little insight into what the printing press looked like and the stunning objects that were positioned around the studio, that I just had to record. I have made a small film about the entire process, which I will upload as soon as it has been finalised.

Until then, the books arrive in 2 days time with 13,200 stickers to stick into each! I will update you as soon as they have arrived.

The Tanks & Hirst

So in between all meetings in Amsterdam with my book designers, proofing and signing off everything book related, I managed to get to the Tate Modern to take a look at the new exhibition spaces, "The Tanks" and of course the Damien Hirst exhibition. Well what can I say, if you haven't been to the Tate recently it is an absolute must. The new space is incredible, it was very reminiscent to the Palais du Tokyo in Paris, with the raw, untreated concrete walls and bold architectural shapes creating new and interesting little spaces within spaces in the galleries. I was completely excited by this new area and with many films playing, the light was beautiful.

Then it was off to see the Retrospective of Damien Hirst. I have always liked the work of Hirst, but found myself less interested, excited in the last few years, until now. The show was very strong and really altered, (in some ways brought me back to my early thoughts) on his practice. It was great to see the 80's early sculptures, bold coloured boxes and spot paintings, then onto the cow's head and flies installation piece, which was fascinatingly interesting, literally watching a passage of time where life and death coexist with of one another so overtly. My favourite room however, was the Butterfly room, where you walk into a humidified room, filled with Butterfly lava and stunning live, flying butterflies than land on the canvases against the walls and onto the audience if you stand there long enough - I was there with a beautiful petrol blue butterfly on my arm - amazing experience. Such a special idea, but what an effect it has on you as you watch life and death and the beauty both produce. The show finishes in early September so if you haven't been yet it is worth a trip.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tanks-tate-modern/eventseries/tanks-art-action

One Of The Most Exciting And Insane Books

So the last meeting happened and wow what a concluding meeting it was. One of my designers said "It's one of the most exciting and insane books I've ever worked on." So with that in mind I can now say that the entire book is going to be made from Stickers! 

With 33 images each one with their textual counterparts, that's 66 stickers to place into one book, so its going to take sometime. Every one is going to be handmade and above is a sneaky peak of the final layouts and design, including the Special Edition packaging, although this will be a little different, so those of you that have pre ordered this will have a lovely surprise when you get it!

Next stage is the printing, so I will be heading off to Robstolk in Amsterdam city centre in the next few weeks to see the printing press in action, I am very excited about this and will be working on a making off video too of the entire production.

Until then.....

Wynton Marsalis' Swing Symphony

So as my book is well on the way, I decided to take a well earned break and head to the Barbican for the fourth time this year to see the LSO play. But this time a little something different - Wynton Marsalis' Swing Symphony! All I can say is what an extraordinary, beautiful, inspiring thing to see!

It was like sitting and listening to the best Jazz that you have ever heard, mixed together with the complexity of the Orchestral sounds and visionary experience. The atmosphere was great, people dancing in their seats and a real sense of excitement and anticipation on every string strung and every trumpet blown. Wynton, a true genius was incredible and at times it felt as if we were all in an old New Orleans bar, sipping Bourbon.

What a pleasure, and it has given me some new ideas too. Something to top the Olympics - easy!

See more from Wynton Marsalis here: http://wyntonmarsalis.org/

Book Production Starts!

So it starts! The design has been confirmed and now onto production. My book is now underway and all files are being treated, prepared for the printers. The textual pieces are proving more complex than anticipated, but producing a book of this kind, the production side was always going to be complicated.

Foreword and concluding texts have been written and by two people, who can only be described as perfectly matched to this project and I am honored to have them onboard. A little sneaky peak of the texts follows.

"Having liberated these photographs from the conceptual and commercial confines of ‘Contemporary Art’ – the context within which they were admittedly born, flourished, and in many cases, for which they were precisely intended – and by melding, merging, and re-engaging with them in her own unique way, Gibson allows them to cross a particularly poignant threshold, into a more unmitigated and arguably more suitable realm: that of Photography itself."

"I think Melinda’s collages work brilliantly, much better than anything I could write, at showing how art photography as a subject is full of contradictions and visual pleasures."

It’s very exciting and within the next 2.5 months, they will be ready to be sold!

More updates on the production as and when it happens.

Commission News

So, I realised once again that I have not posted for a while and wanted to ensure you that I am now back! Arles was a good little trip away, a great exhibition by Sophie Calle was my highlight, but I will post some images of her show later.

Firstly, as I am in the middle of this, my very exciting and quite unbelievable commission for one of my most and my sisters, as well as my dear friend Trushar's favourite fashion designers, I had to share a little of the process! I can't show you the actual pieces yet, but its only a few weeks to wait until I can share all the news! All I can say is it an absolute pleasure working on this and with so much amazing material sourced from the team in Paris, the new collages are looking great.

More news to share soon, I promise!