New Commission - Modest Mussorgsky "Pictures At An Exhibition" For The Tonhalle Düsseldorf

 

I am absolutely delighted to announce my new commission, working with the incredible Tonhalle Düsseldorf to create two new pieces in response to the classical master piece that is Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition," in particular a reworking of the movement, Goldenberg and Schmuÿle. Bringing two of the most important things to me together, Classical music and contemporary artistic practice, I can honestly say has been one of the most deeply inspirational things I have ever worked on, and I know that this is the beginning of a long and exciting journey.

Departing from the idea that the contemporary image is deeply photographic and using the tangible experience of listening to the music, I have found a way in which the classical movement can be physically translated into imagery. In essence I am changing sound waves into light and capturing their chaotic, yet deeply ordered transformation from solid matter to continuous motion. Science is at play, as Cymatics, a term coined by Hans Jenny, release their subsets of modal vibrational phenomena through graphite, powder pigment and ink. In constant flux, these changing compositions are momentarily captured as the fleeting seconds past from one wave to another.

The works will form part of the concert, in a form of a publication and which be available from Friday 16 December, when Modest Mussorgsky "Pictures At An Exhibition" orchestrated version by Ravel will be played by the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra. Such a delight in every sense, and a huge thank you to all at the Tonhalle it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you all.

http://www.tonhalle.de/reihen/reihe/Sternzeichen1/Bilder-einer-Ausstellung/

Lunar Caustic Now Available On - 北京银矿

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything, I think 2016 has seen so many shifts, I must admit it is rather difficult for normality to continue. I can however say that the last few months have seen much development and I am very excited to see what 2017 has to offer, with much planned already, next year really is going to be rather fun!

November saw the Redeye Talk and Workshop which I found to be immensely engaging and working some some wonderful photographic artists with their thoughtful visions and promise, it was a truly rewarding and warming experience. Manchester is also a really good city, with friendly warmth that often lacks from the Southern big smoke.

In other news, as Thomas Sauvin launches his new Beijing Silvermine website, we both excitingly continue on our collaborative journey, with more than 350, 000 new images to digest and edit, a new chapter for Lunar Caustic is arriving in early 2017. 

http://www.beijingsilvermine.com/
Lunar Caustic here http://www.beijingsilvermine.com/collaborations/lunar-caustic

More news to follow shortly and many happy advent days ahead.

New Talk & Workshop - Redeye Weekend - 18th & 19th November 2016 - Tickets Now Available

I am delighted to be working with Redeye in November to do an Evening Talk and Workshop with a Critique on the weekend of the 18th and 19th November in Manchester. Tickets are available now and it is sure to be a fun, inspired packed weekend discussing the changes in the photographic medium and how alternative processes can release a new found freedom in an artist's journey. Please find below some information about both events and what to expect.

Photographic artist Melinda Gibson joins Redeye to talk about her unique approach to photography. 

Through her work with found imagery, Melinda Gibson takes an experimental approach to the form, creating 'visual remixes' that force the viewer to reconsider the medium and its canon. 'By slicing, cutting and de-contextualising the images I start to gain a greater appreciation of the works; I start understanding why and how these images have been created.' - Melinda Gibson.

In this event, Melinda will talk about her recent project, Lunar Caustic, where she collaborated with Thomas Sauvin on thousands of salvaged, neglected negatives, and discuss more generally her artistic process and approach to the medium. 

The following day Melinda will give a group critique and workshop. Melinda will work with 10 photographers/photographic artists, helping them to gain new perspectives on a recent project or body of work and will help participants to reconsider their practice and gain new perspectives on a project.

Please see here for more detailed information on both events and links to purchase the tickets.

https://www.redeye.org.uk/programme/events/evening-melinda-gibson

https://www.redeye.org.uk/programme/events/workshop-and-critique-melinda-gibson

Marvellous Marrakech

I've just returned from an incredible trip to Marrakech, and to say that this city is inspiring is certainly an under statement. Marrakech has always been one of those cities that I've dreamt of adventuring too and with so much visual imagery that surrounds Morocco as a country, I knew that it was time to pack my bags and head off on an 8 day adventure!

As we flew into the airport I was immediately stuck by the colours and heat that greet you. That feeling you get as you of walk down the steps and a wave of heat hits you is something that I honestly say feels me with joy, I am sure I was made for hot climates, London is just too cold. The moment your feet touch the tarmac there is a sense of ease, calm and relaxation, there is of course bureaucracy, but nothing as strict as what we are currently use too and this for me is always a welcomed retreat.  A driver picks us up and immediately we are whizzed away to our Riad in the centre of the Medina, not one for the faint hearted, but I couldn't imagine being based anywhere else. The hustle and bustle, the colours and smells, and being in walking distance of all the city has to offer, it was just perfect.

As you enter the Medina, the city unfolds, every which way you turn this wonderful vibrant deep pink envelopes the facades and Marrakech plays out in front of your eyes. Almost theatrical in many ways, bicycles circle in between you as Souk holders sing out to visitors, a rhythm starts to enter your soul as your sense are drawn to the vibrancy of the city. Thick spice smells fill the air as sweet pastries tempt your tastebuds and pink dust flows around your toes, I've arrived and it's just wonderful.

As the sun rises and sets, each day brings a new adventure. We walk everywhere we go, so really getting a sense of the city and the locals that inhabit it. It's hot and haze re-adjusts your focus, every corner you turn another opportunity to capture something, a photo here, a photo there, the city is so visually inspiring you have to remind yourself to stop, pause and look up and out. We visit the stunning Majorelle Jardins, created by Jacques Majorelle and later taken over by Yves Saint Laurent. This tropical oasis centred around an 1920's studio that is encapsulated with the most unbelievable blue, there aren't any words that can describe seeing this colour, you really have to see it to believe it.

We visit the Bahia Palace and walk around the Royal Palace, (a fair few times as navigation is lost!) but as we loose sight of directions, we wonder into the most inspiring streets, only filled with locals and two London artists. As the days roll by we plan more adventures and take a trip to the Atlas Mountains and trek for 2 hours with a local up to 2100 meters, and travel out to the desert to see the Unesco World Heritage site, Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou which dates back to the 17 Century. These two days where absolutely astounding and I feel honoured to have seen them.

Morocco is an incredible country, filled with warmth and generosity and reminds us of the good of humanity. One of the lasting memories for me will be the 'call to pray' every day that echoes from one Mosque to another in the city. A call that made me feel alive, and honoured to be able to listen to the chants, truly beautiful. As a Muslim county, they have sadly seen a stark decline in tourism which deeply saddens me and was reiterated by each and every local we meet. I only hope and wish that this will disperse and people will believe in the good of humankind, no matter what country, religion or political persuasion, Marrakech you are Marvellous.

Brilliantly Berlin

Last week I decided it was time to escape London and spend a long weekend discovering and enjoying the delights of the brilliant city, Berlin. Having flown into Berlin, many times, but only spending 12 hours in the city altogether, it was about time to really immerse myself, so that is exactly what I did! 

Flying in on Thursday morning I was greeted with beautiful sunny skies and hot temperatures as the heat wave in London travelled with me to Germany. Stepping off the plane at Tegel and heading into the centre I was automatically struck by the huge sense of relief,  I had left London. I haven't posted much in the last month, to be honest, I haven't had many words to describe the events of the past month, but as I put my first step onto European soil (Airport tarmac), I felt like I was home. A warm openness embraced me, a feeling London had lacked for sometime now and it made me realise just how far as a city we need to grow, I really was having a Brexit holiday!

Everyday was filled with a wealth of walking, research and inspiration. From the moment I arrived into the city to the moment I left, I soaked up everything Berlin had to offer. Thursday and Friday saw days full of culture, visiting many exhibitions, CO Berlin, with its excellent show by Adam Jeppesen to the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berliner Festspiele, and the out of this world No It Is! show by William Kentridge. The Kentridge exhibition was more than words can explain. It is as if you are transported into his mind, pushed and pulled in every direction, every sense touched and expanded. There is such energy to his work, a fluidity that is hard to beat and an awareness of how sound and visuals interlink, they draw out the deepest depths of your psyche. I was taken beyond inspiration, into a world where everything was possible. Astounding.

Saturday and Sunday saw many a breakfast, lunch and dinner with friends in the sun. From Mitte, to Kreuzberg to Brandenburger Tor to a trip to Berliner Fernsehturm I walked the city and enjoyed the wide open streets, gazed into the distant histories still present and took time to really contemplate the dark days that city had seen, through the concrete columns of the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas. It was a trip that was filled with all the things that make me feel alive and reminds me of how dark days still linger closer than we'd like. It's why tolerance, inclusion and solidarity are ever more important in our changing political landscape. Berlin you are beautiful.

Installation Shots From Paris - Galerie Binôme

Delighted to show you some installation shots from my current group exhibition, Second Hands at Galerie Binôme. Only a few days left to see this lovely show in Paris as it closes on Saturday 23rd July, don't miss it!

http://www.galeriebinome.com/

Next Liberation, L'Oeil De La Photographie, Photo Mag - Press From "Second Hands" exhibit In Paris

This is the last week to see the exhibition Second Hands in Paris at Galerie Binome, closing on 23rd July. The exhibition is attracting good press with articles featured in Next Liberation, L'Oeil De La Photographie, Photo Mag, France Fine Art and Paris Art, which is great to see. As the sun continues to shine, I look forward to seeing the transformation of the colours, the silver nitrate and the new marks that will have appeared on the prints, as they continue to twist and turn in their organic state.

Press articles can be found here:

http://www.galeriebinome.com/fr/4-agenda/2-prochainement/109-second-hands/1-presentation/

Excerpt taken from L'Oeil De La Photographie;

"Ces fragments de photos retournés sont littéralement utilisés comme de la peinture et déposés au pinceau sur la toile. Un effet pictural que l’on retrouve dans les images à quatre mains de Melinda Gibson et Thomas Sauvin. Les photographies de la collection Silvermine1, sauvées de la ruine, sont reconsidérées au seuil de leur disparition. Elles sont comme gelées entre deux états, une partie étant sauvegardée et une partie détruite par les composants mêmes, acides et nitrates d’argent, qui proviennent des cuves de recyclage qui devaient les dissoudre. Le résultat final aléatoire est le reflet de la nature instable des négatifs, où de la matière organique se développe progressivement en surface.

Par tous ces jeux, de la fragmentation, du délitement et/ou de l’accumulation, ces artistes bouleversent nos habitudes en matière d’appréhension et de lecture des images. Les liens avec le réel en sont distendus et les frontières de la photographie repoussées, voire dépassées. Leurs œuvres abordent les questions du montré et du caché, du visible et de l’invisible, du privé et du public, de la mémoire et de la fiction, en résonance avec les enjeux contemporains en matière de recyclage. Elles nous invitent à réfléchir sur le statut et le rôle des images dans une société qui les surproduit et proposent, à leur manière, des modes de résistance à l’obsolescence programmée qui régit nos vies."

New Exhibition - The Royal Academy of Arts

Absolutely delighted and extremely proud to say that I was invited by the wonderful Stephen Chambers to participate in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition for 2016. 

The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2016 is coordinated by the leading British sculptor, Richard Wilson RA. This years hanging committee includes Royal Academicians Stephen Chambers, Louisa Hutton, Bill Jacklin, Jock McFadyen, David Mach, Cathie Pilkington, David Remfry, Ian Ritchie and Bill Woodraw.

In the words of co-ordinator Richard Wilson RA, this year’s edition of the Summer Exhibition is set to be “unpredictable, stimulating and startling." Keep a particular look out for work by some of the art world’s most successful artistic duos – specially invited by Richard Wilson RA – whose work will be dispersed throughout. Highlights include a large-scale suspended kite sculpture by Heather and Ivan Morison, sculpture by brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman, and an atmospheric photographic installation from Jane and Louise Wilson.

The exhibition opens on 13th June, running to 21st August. I am delighted to have two pieces from my collaborative project with Thomas Sauvin, Lunar Caustic, part of the Print Room VII. We are certainly in fantastic company with the room full with a wealth of stunning artists that include, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Julian Opie, Yinka Shonibare, Allen Jones and Chris Orr with many more greats. It was certainly a very proud moment yesterday, sipping prosecco, floating through the galleries discovering each and every work.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2016

New Exhibition - 'Second Hands' Opens In Paris At Galerie Binome On Thursday 26th May From 18:00

I am very pleased to announce that my collaborative project, Lunar Caustic will be part of a new exhibition in Paris that opens at Galerie Binome on Thursday 26th May. The exhibition, Second Hands presents artists that look to use the tactility of the found image to push forward ideas surrounding transmission, transfer and transformation within the changing landscape of contemporary visual language. Here is a section from the press release below;

"Sous le commissariat de Sophie Bernard, la sélection réunit des photographes et des artistes, mais également des éditeurs et collectionneurs. À partir de corpus d’images anciennes, négatifs ou tirages, ils font œuvre et établissent d’autres rapports au visible. Détachés d’un pathos matérialiste qui viendrait sacraliser ces images primaires oubliées ou tombées dans l’anonymat, ils reconsidèrent les qualités de ces matériaux, vieillis et un peu sales pour les recycler, les détourner et les hybrider..."

See more about the exhibition here - 

http://www.galeriebinome.com/fr/4-agenda/2-prochainement/109-second-hands/1-presentation/

New Commission - FT Weekend Magazine - Photo London 2016 Special Supplement - "My London"

I may have been very quiet lately, but I have been in my studio working on some new pieces. I am absolutely thrilled to say that my new works were commissioned for the FT Weekend Magazine, which is live online now and available in print from today - Saturday 14th May!

In preparation for Photo London 2016, the FT Weekend Magazine, official media partner, commissioned four artists to create new work centred around their individual take on My London. I am very honoured to have worked with such an incredible commissioning team and to be situated in the magazine with some truly brilliant contemporary artists that use photography in exciting and inspiring ways. I am in great company with one of my fondest fellow friends, Tom Lovelace, the naughty Juno Calypso and one of great Magnum photographers, Mark Power. It is certainly an issue that shows how photography is shifting, developing and prepares you for what Photo London will offer.

My London, focus on the city as an never source of chaotic inspiration, with it's twists and turns offering up the everyday to the extraordinary. I centre the new works on the role of Instagram and how virtual portals are changing our physical experiences. 

Read more on this and others in the FT Weekend Magazine Photo London 2016 special supplement and online here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80313c48-1185-11e6-839f-2922947098f0.html

Ballet Black Brilliance At The Barbican

Last night saw the London Premiere of Ballet Black's Triple Bill live at the Barbican, with only two nights to catch this astounding performance I was beyond excitement to be there on the opening night! This performance pulls together the company, Ballet Black which is made up of international dancers of black and Asian descent with three bold and inventive choreographers that collaborate to present, as the Barbican states, "an irresistible trilogy of narrative and abstract dance."

As the curtains drew open you could feel the anticipation in the air, the excitement, the intrigue to see what this triple performance had in store. Ballet has always been a draw for me, it brings together so many elements that remind me of the importance of the present moment. The power of the human body, strong and muscular intertwined with classical overtures that leave you breathless, all weighted in a central core narrative that is effortlessly played out. It also reminds me of my youth, when I , myself trained in ballet for over 10 years, ready to move onto point, but later let it drift away. I must admit I was new to Ballet Black and I feel sadly others are the same; where our education is rich in white bourgeois Russian dancers, and lacks the multiculturalism which is modern day living. So Ballet Black and others like it, that championed black and asian dancers is well overdue!

As the first performance started, that effortless delicacy that comes from professional dancers takes hold as they glide across the stage, extended limbs, held positions, lifts and turns, at every point you are in awe of the combined strength that filters through their core. The music, almost sporadic in its nature, heightens the glistering sequins on the ballerina's tutu, while the lights hit a shattered mirrored pendant that hangs down throwing brilliant bright shards of light across the stage. The music slows as the dancers draw back to their starting positions and we prepare ourselves for the second bill.

The light shifts, a cast of blue falls onto the stage and with this a large silk cloth flows over the dancers. It is difficult to express how this one movement of fabric automatically starts an emotive reaction that is impossible to stop. This fluid movement, intermixed with the classical scores from violin and piano was breathtaking, at that very moment I was deeply captivated, almost mesmerised as the tears rolled down my cheeks. Watching so intently, it was if time was standing still, while I was transported into another world, as two dancers intertwined where then later torn apart. This piece was extraordinary, so emotive that you could feel every part of the narrative playing through your veins. As closure approached, my heart was heavy and my eyes full of tears, a breath taking experience that will stay with me for many years. 

The finale piece was Storyville, described as, "a bittersweet fable of Nola, a farm girl who falls prey to unscrupulous characters and worldly desires in 1920s New Orleans, set to the haunting music of Kurt Weill,"  and it surely was that! This piece was full of embrace, power, corruption and distress, lit in crimson and bold in it's style, it was a stunning finale to the triple bill.

I can wholeheartedly say that this has to be one of the best ballet's I have ever seen and an evening that I will never forget. Ballet Black is unforgettable and I shall actively be looking out for more of their performances, they are truly not to be missed!

http://balletblack.co.uk/

http://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=18677

ASX.TV: “Rebirth Negated By Truant Hope” - Melinda Gibson & Brad Feuerhelm

ASX, (American Suburb X) TV, bring to light the collaborative project I worked on with Brad Feuerhelm for a bespoke SPBH performance event at The Photographers' Gallery in conjunction with Aperture's Photobook Review! 

Reworking the text Brad wrote centred on the Richard Peter's book, Dresden: eine Kamera klagt an Dresdener Verlagsgesellschaft Dresden, Germany, 1949. The short film is an appropriation of internet source material backed with audio, text feed into a programme creating the generated script of an American voice. The resulting work is full of programme glitches, archival imagery with an overwhelming odour of destruction. A fast and playful piece that encapsulates Feuerhelm's text, echoing the original source material of the Dresden bombings.

See and read more here - http://www.americansuburbx.com/2016/03/asx-tv-rebirth-negated-by-truant-hope-melinda-gibson-brad-feuerhelm.html

Alexander Calder - A Tate Triumph

There are few things in this lifetime that can provide so much visual pleasure to so many, in a manner that seems so effortless it brings joy to the senses. But I can heartwarmingly say that the current Alexander Calder exhibition at the Tate Modern, achieves this and more. The show, if you have not yet had the pleasure to experience it, is bewilderingly beautiful. As I write this now, I feel the hairs on my neck and down my spine stand to attention, as if my fight-or-flight response had just materialised, but not to flee, but to bare witness to the poetic fluidity of Calder's world.  

From the moment you enter into the somewhat crowded room, you are immediately struck with a sense of calm, a graceful, almost peaceful aura washes over you as you read the introduction and start to weave through the rooms. Your eyes widening and widening through every exploration of figure, shape, structure and movement. Figures appear out of the walls, spinning and turning with a delicately that is truly stunning. At times it is if you are staring into another world, drop shadowed figures metamorphose right before your very eyes. But all this in the absence of sound. In a day an age that is full of loud, crash, bang, wallops, this silence is a mystifying magic.  

As you meander along the journey, for it really does feel like you are being taken on a superlative tour, more visual pleasures are awaiting you. As the audience glide through the exhibition the works move in tandem, responding to the weight and movement of air which are constantly being created and shifted in what seems spontaneity. But of course, is reactionary to the elegant nature of these works. The environment is so paramount to their movements, it is almost as if the works can not exist alone and us without the works.  

Room by room you are filled with joy as each movement is unique and each weightless in its nature. Spherical shapes, poignant coloured objects all interlinked with blackened wire frame what could be seen as a new galaxy, a scientific experiment, but all we miss are the scribbles of finds on a piece of paper, to the grand scale mobiles that physically leave you breathless. 

Language is powerful, but this exhibit touches your senses, your very humanity in a way that is almost too difficult to describe. It is most certainly one of the best exhibitions I have seen in this country and absolutely a Tate Triumph. 

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/alexander-calder-performing-sculpture

Alumni Talk At LCC - Friday 19th February 13:00

Continuing my tour of Universities this year, tomorrow see's me talk about my practice, part of the Photography Alumni Event at the London College of Communication, where this year, see's a decade since I graduated! 

Although that makes me feel very old indeed, I thoroughly look forward to talking to the students and offering some tips on how to enjoy the journey. 

Critic's Choice - 'In Santa Monica, Photography That Likes To Break The Rules' - LA Times

"Ever since the earliest photographic technologies, bushwhackers have willfully deviated from marked trails, but never, it seems, have more renegades tweaked convention than in the past decade or two. Digital processes have dematerialized photography, and artists have taken it upon themselves to rematerialize it in inventive, idiosyncratic ways."

Very, very pleased to see that my current group exhibition at ROSEGALLERY has been selected as the Critic'c Choice in the LA Times. The article talks of the exhibition, "Her First Meteorite, Volume 2" at the gallery and Leah Ollman writes about the show.

It articles details, "Melinda Gibson and Thomas Sauvin's "Lunar Caustic" images are the oddly urgent consequences of an act of rescue followed by an act of violation. The prints, made from a salvaged archive of Chinese vernacular negatives, have been bathed in acid, distorting their hues and tones, freckling the surfaces with rusty spots. The records have been preserved, only to be handed over to the forces of entropy."

Read more from the Review here: 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-rose-gallery-santa-monica-20160111-story.html

See more from ROSE GALLERY here: http://www.rosegallery.net/

Getting Ready For 2016, Texts, Talks & Chemically Stained Fingertips - The Next Chapter.

So 2016 has arrived and I can't believe just how quickly the time is going already, how can November be booked up. Before I know it, I'll be preparing Christmas Cards and writing my wish list to Mr Claus himself! 2015 was an extraordinary year, with many exciting exhibitions and adventures and I have a distinct feeling that 2016 is going to be no different - just the way I like it.

2016 kicks off with talks and lectures. I am very pleased to be continuing my lecturing at Camberwell College of Art, but will also be doing some one off talks around the country at different universities; my first this year will be the wonderful Bournemouth University.

I am very pleased to say that I will be talking at The Photographers' Gallery in February, to the launch a new magazine, Co-Curate, where I contributed a piece of writing to the project. This new limited edition magazine is co-curated by Isabelle Evertse and Aaron Schuman, taking the idea of collaboration and pairing off writers with artists. More coming on the launch and the surrounding events soon.

And very, very, very excitingly, I have another set of Lunar Caustic images awaiting me, as another 300, 000 negatives get sent for my perusal - I can't wait!!! More to come on the next chapter, but I eagerly await the delivery and prepare my hands for the Silver Nitrate!

http://cargocollective.com/cocuratemagazine/Issue-01-with-Aaron-Schuman-1