RALPH GIBSON

RALPH GIBSON

Award-winning Photographer
Leica Hall of Fame Inductee · Recipient of the French Legion of Honor

I wouldn't be able to effectively delineate where my life ends and photography begins. They're one and the same. If my eyes are open, I'm seeing. If I'm seeing, I'm essentially in that valence within which, or from within which come the images. In that book, Self Exposure, one of the things I did realize as I was writing it: all autobiographies are chronological and anecdotal. That's the way they unfold. And I realized that there were certain decisions I had made along the way that were crucial. And there was really only a handful of them. But I was very fortunate because I had that initial desire to be a photographer. I don't even know if it was a desire. I think it was something much further beyond that. I would have to say it was more of a...I didn't really choose photography, it sort of chose me, you know. I mean, nolo contendere. I just did what I knew I had to do. There was a sense of devoir, you know, you just do it. Claude Lévi-Strauss the great social anthropologist has made this sort of thing clear: Society changes and with it the context through which we observe something has changed as well. And so I like the role of art in society and my relationship to my society and to art in my society. Now I'm interested in this phase of my life and how does the mind influence the mind? 

From Venice Biennale to the Pritzker Prize

From Venice Biennale to the Pritzker Prize

Conversation with MANUELA LUCÁ-DAZIO Exec. Director · Pritzker Architecture Prize
Fmr. Exec. Director · Venice Biennale · Dept. of Visual Arts & Architecture

When I started and I had to decide what to do in life - because I was working with museums, in exhibition design, and on the restoration of buildings - and then at some point, I had the chance to arrive at the Venice Biennale and my whole perspective changed. And it changed because I was working with living artists and architects. Until that moment, I was working around Old Masters, works in museums, and things that were there with the aura of history. And all of a sudden I was dealing with living architects and artists, and this was, for me, the most incredible experience. So I decided to leave all the rest, because I was doing quite a lot at the same time, and to concentrate on the Biennale.

VILHELM HAMMERSHØI · SILENCE

VILHELM HAMMERSHØI · SILENCE

Can silence be painted? How can artists capture interior states, solitude, and the passing of time? How are the homes we live in a reflection of the people who inhabit them? How can we read a painting to piece together the life of the artist?

Race · Identity · Gender · Class & Systems of Power

Race · Identity · Gender · Class & Systems of Power

Conversation with Independent Curator · Writer MONIQUE LONG

Lowery Stokes Sims is someone I consider a mentor. Early in my career, I received an ArtTable fellowship and I was assigned to her groundbreaking exhibition The Global Africa Project at The Museum of Arts and Design for mentorship. She hired me after the fellowship and my time there was the first real experience I had working directly with contemporary artists. My advice to emerging arts professionals is to seek out mentorship informally or formally. For artists who want to dedicate full time to their practice, learn what it means to run a business.

Painting Toward a Post-Human Mythology

Painting Toward a Post-Human Mythology

A Conversation with Artist J. ADAM MCGALLIARD

I'm working on a series titled Erewhon, which imagines a post-collapse society where unreal figures navigate ambiguous, symbolic environments. The work explores nature’s resurgence, climate anxiety, and spiritual fragmentation. I often incorporate botanical elements or environmental symbolism into my work. I find inspiration in the Florida landscape—its lush, unruly, and often haunted quality mirrors the emotional terrain I explore in my paintings.

Race, Memory & the Painted Body

Race, Memory & the Painted Body

A Conversation with Artist JEFF MUSSER

My current body of work aims is to examine the construct of race from two vantage points. One aspect falls loosely into the category of history painting. For example, the painting titled “We Did Not Exist Before 1681” questions how the term white first appeared in early 17th century Colonial Maryland. The second aspect investigates the many ways race has affected my family. The painting titled “Undesirable, Swarthy Swede in 1817: Proud White Southerner in 1860” asks what was lost when my father’s side of the family morphed from being not the right kind of white in 1817, to fighting proudly for the Confederacy in a single generation. I also examine how that shift created a schism between the many sides of my family, particularly the Native American side, who were not considered white. Finally I scrutinize how being viewed as white has affected my personal outlook on the world.

The Body as Archive · The Self as Myth

The Body as Archive · The Self as Myth

A Conversation with Artist SHEREE HOVSEPIAN

I am navigating the complexities of identity and subjectivity through the lens of embodiment, archival processes, and the interplay of the indexical and the unknown. My work is deeply informed by the dichotomy of the body as an archive—where the physical exists distinct from the psyche—allowing me to explore the physicality of experience and primordial desire.

Blooming as a Metaphor for Growth, Renewal & Sustainability

Blooming as a Metaphor for Growth, Renewal & Sustainability

A Conversation with Artist HANNA JENNINGS

Exploring ideas, art and the creative process connects me to people and the way they feel. I'd love to express togetherness through individuality. Like each person, each piece is unique alone, but when collaged all together, it makes something beautiful, like a more unified world, comprised of stories and reflections of "soul" the perhaps others might relate to. Art creates a less shallow relationship between you, the artist, and the viewer. I am an empath and feel deeply about people, places, and the art they bring to the table. I really love hearing about cultures, personal experiences, and how people create in order to communicate, when sometimes words have a hard time doing it. I love how a bunch of people can all be staring at one painting, but have separate experiences, but at the same time, can come together to share and learn to understand one another from a more intimate perspective.

The Unfinished Self

The Unfinished Self

A Conversation with Artist SIERRA OROSCO on Vulnerability & Form

My upbringing taught me to look for the best in people and to understand that humanity is complex. Life isn’t just black and white, but there’s a gray area we often choose to ignore, where no one is entirely good or entirely bad. Exploring ideas, art, and the creative process connects me to the deepest parts of myself and to others. It allows me to reflect, to question, and to express truths that can’t always be put into words. Through creating, I find clarity, connection, and a sense of freedom in being fully, unapologetically human.

On Curation, Culture & Creating Dialogues

On Curation, Culture & Creating Dialogues

Owner · Director of Monya Rowe Gallery

I’ve always been into interesting, creative things in some way, but I can’t say it’s always been highbrow. There wasn’t a turning moment of realizing I like art; it all just came naturally. I think art connects people, inspires, challenges, and helps us to understand ourselves. Galleries, not beholden to the mainstream or their peers, are unafraid to voice an alternative view that might be rooted in politics or sexuality. They also identify the art they perceive as being important to the canon. Before it’s seen in a museum, it was in a gallery.

JULIAN LENNON

JULIAN LENNON

Singer-songwriter · Documentary Filmmaker · Founder of The White Feather Foundation
Photographer/Author of Life’s Fragile Moments

I think a lot of joy comes from helping others. One of the things that I've been really focusing on is finding that balance in life, what’s real and what’s true and what makes you happy. How can you help other people feel the same and have a happier life? I think whatever that takes. So if that's charity, if that's photography, if that's documentary, if that's music, and I can do it, then I'm going to do it.

Pierre Huyghe: Variants

Pierre Huyghe: Variants

Pierre Huyghe’s Variants (2021—) does not occupy space; it perpetuates it. The work takes as its foundation a complete 3D scan and model of a small island at the bend of the Randselva River in Norway. Biologists and surveyors then furnished this model with quantitative and qualitative measurements of the island’s organic and inorganic elements, such as the types of species, the water levels, the trash, and the sounds and smells. Biochemical and physical sensors are installed around the island to track the shifts in the island’s environment and funnel them into an artificial neural network, which generates from all collected data a continuously evolving and mutating simulation of the island, unfolding in real time on the large LED screen at the far end of the island.

 Adrian Ghenie: Shadow Paintings

Adrian Ghenie: Shadow Paintings

“Once you leave the traditional constraints of anatomy behind, the way you deform can become a portrait of character or the inner psyche on a deeper level. This play with the human form marked the beginning of something new.” Renowned Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie is currently presenting two exhibitions at the Albertina and the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett. Working with a variety of materials and subjects, Ghenie explores the personal, the political, and the art historical, fusing these discourses into expressive abstract and figurative works of art across multiple mediums.

Art as Connection

Art as Connection

A Conversation with ANN PRIFTIS
CEO of Whistler Contemporary Gallery

It’s impossible to measure the importance of the arts on a global scale. Art is a fundamental way for humans to express themselves and share ideas. Art can often be a mechanism to have difficult conversations on important topics that would otherwise be too tricky to navigate. Artistic expression connects cultures, bridges ideological divides and expands viewpoints … artistic expression and democratic access to that expression is essential to human life.

Shaping the Narrative

Shaping the Narrative

A Conversation with MEGAN TOY
Manager of GRENNING GALLERY · Sag Harbor · NY

I like to start my day at the ocean or in the woods. Connecting with nature. On Long Island, we are lucky to be able to visit the sea in minutes, from any direction. Right now, we are exhibiting “Tight Lines,” which is a fisherman-themed exhibition of 5 artists, the first exhibition for a 26-year-old painter. There are some topics that are labeled taboo or inappropriate to discuss, and sometimes artists need to be the catalysts of these discussions. With that said, art should also serve as a respite from social chaos. A meditation of simpler pleasures, like a beautiful landscape.

Curating the Invisible: Sound, Space & Freedom

Curating the Invisible: Sound, Space & Freedom

A Conversation with MARIA ABRAMENKO
Independent Curator · Art Critic · Art Editor in Chief at Nasty Magazine

The work of art most important for me is one that challenges perceptions and invites deeper thought. It’s not necessarily about a single piece, but rather the kind of work that makes me question, reflect, and feel something beyond the surface. Whether it’s a classical restoration or a contemporary installation, I’m drawn to works that tell a story, provoke conversation, or capture a moment of truth. Art that stays with you long after you’ve experienced it—that’s what I find most important.

Ritual, Myth, Memory: Toward a Feminine Cosmology

Ritual, Myth, Memory: Toward a Feminine Cosmology

A Conversation with Artist HSIN HWANG

 I was born and raised in Chiayi, a small city in southern Taiwan near the sacred Alishan mountain range. The area is not only known for its misty forests and sunrise views, but also as the homeland of Indigenous communities, whose culture and animistic beliefs deeply shaped my imagination as a child. Growing up surrounded by temple festivals, oral folklore, and Indigenous stories, I became attuned to the invisible layers of meaning in everyday life—rituals, symbols, and the presence of the spiritual in the natural world. This early exposure continues to influence my artistic practice, which often explores mythology, belief systems, and the feminine through a cross-cultural and symbolic lens.

JONATHAN YEO

JONATHAN YEO

Artist

What are you trying to do with a portrait? On a basic level, you're trying to communicate something about the essence of who someone is. You're trying to figure out who they are, not necessarily who they present themselves as. The two things can quite often be different. You're trying to find ways of showing that through their face, their posture, or any other context. My instinct is always to try to reduce down to the essential elements. We read faces. It's obviously very, very deep in our DNA, really our survival instinct. We are programmed to read faces in a very fine-tuned way.

Threads of Time: Prints, Textiles & the Tactile Archive
Censorship · Social Control · Conflict & The Role of the Artist

Censorship · Social Control · Conflict & The Role of the Artist

A Conversation with Artist ABDULNASSER GHAREM

I’m currently working on a project titled The Healthy Sin (Aniconism),. This work addresses my personal and cultural journey navigating the strict religious and social prohibitions against depicting ensouled beings in Saudi Arabia. It explores the complex tension between faith, state control, and artistic expression that has shaped my life and practice. The project consists of a multi-layered installation combining video, sound, and painting. It documents my early experience as a child instructed to deface illustrations in schoolbooks, the silent conflict between government modernization and religious conservatism, and my later act of resistance by organizing a covert live drawing session using a disassembled and smuggled mannequin.