Can you not possibly get enough guitar? Neither can photographer Ralph Gibson and guitarist Andy Summers (pictured), who’ve come together to create “Light Strings: Impressions of the Guitar,” an exhibit touring the Hermes galleries of New York, Los Angeles, and Paris this fall.
The show focuses on the way in which the guitar’s design mirrors the human form, highlighting the instruments often overlooked and underrated artistic visual qualities. Andy Summers contributes text to accompany the photographs both at the galleries and in print-Chronicle Books will publish a folio in conjunction with the exhibit’s gallery appearances. The shows and book boast 25 previously unreleased Ralph Gibson photographs. Additional material unavailable for viewing in New York, Los Angeles, and the folio will be on display at the Hermes Gallery in Paris.
Ex-Police guitarist Andy Summers has spent the years since his rock group’s 1985 breakup pursuing his love for jazz and perfecting his craft as a guitarist. Two of his most critically lauded albums interpret the work of monumental jazz composers. Green Chimneys: The Work of Thelonious Monk was released in 1999 and Peggy’s Blue Skylight, an album of compositions by Charles Mingus, was released in 2000. Summers’ original compositions synthesize a number of genres and display the artist’s jazz influences alongside his affinity for textural and sonic experimentation.
Ralph Gibson’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at such prestigious locations as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, England. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. “Music has played an important role in Ralph Gibson’s development,” writes International Center of Photography curator Miles Barth, author of Tropism: Photographs by Ralph Gibson.
Light Strings: Impressions of the Guitar
Photographs by Ralph Gibson with text by Andy Summers
Los Angeles: September 21 through October 15
New York: November 4 through November 17
Hermes New York City is located on the fourth floor at 691 Madison Avenue.
Hermes Los Angeles is located on the third floor at 434 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills.
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