It is in Busan in South Korea that we find a space that is one of a kind, entirely dedicated to the life and work of Ralph Gibson. This sanctuary of photographic art, named Gibson Ι GoEun Museum of Photography, opened its doors in 2022 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Korean Photographic Foundation. More than 1,000 photographs and personal objects of the American master are preserved and exhibited there.
Born in Hollywood in 1939, under the spotlight of film sets, his father was an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock, he worked in the Navy, then trained at the Art Institute of San Francisco; he who rubbed shoulders with the greatest at a young age, Dorothée Lange, Robert Franck, Henri Cartier-Bresson, profoundly marked his field by creating and imposing a singular photographic language, today recognisable among thousands.
What he calls “his visual signature” – when vision and technique agree – are these fragments of life, torn from reality, on the border between dream and the subconscious. He says it himself: “What interests me is to produce truncated shapes, proportionate to the frame and the composition, preferably luminous shapes. The full figure doesn’t interest me. I want to abstract the shapes. » He whose eye is always on the lookout teaches us to see and create a dialogue between forms and images. A shadow, a light, a reflection, a trace… anything which detached from its whole becomes whole and is here a work of art.
“A lot of what you see in these two images is what’s between them. “. This quote from the artist guides the visitor who wanders around the first floor. One of the photographer’s most recent series is presented, Political Abstraction, photographic diptychs in color and black and white. Having moved from film to digital, but still faithful to Leica, Gibson offers in this second exhibition dedicated to his digital production, a new approach to his visual signature. There is always the same desire to escape from reality – we will also observe that none of the places in which the photographs are taken are specified – but here the viewer is entirely involved. Theater curtain and frozen face. Glass bottle lit by candle and light on a corner of a coffee table. Faced with two images side by side, the photographer pushes us to question our interiority, to intervene in this dialogue and imagine a “third answer”.
Cozy atmosphere. Black walls. White light. A different atmosphere awaits the visitor in the basement. On the staircase which takes him there we find photographs a collection of devices, musical instruments, letters and books of this lover of words… all objects which Gibson generously donated to the museum and which allow the visitor to better perceive the personality of this protean artist. The room that follows then exhibits his best-known work, his black and white works which immerse the visitor in a more intimate dimension. In the frenzy of the dialogues of the images above us, it is in an almost religious silence that we venture there observing these unique images, between deference and subjugation.
For him who likes to transmit finds in this place, the Gibson Ι GoEun Museum of Photography, an opportunity to create a link between cultures and to offer young Korean photographers the opportunity to learn and interact with him who goes there several times a year. “The Gibson/Goeun Museum gives me the opportunity to serve as a bridge between Western and Eastern photographic visions. With the opening of this cultural institution, we come full circle in celebrating how we see and interpret the language of light. »
A strong bond also made possible thanks to the centers of interest shared between the president of the HyungSoo Kim Foundation, for art in general, music in particular but also for France, its landscapes, its history and its culture. France which has also recognized the talent and work of these two men by decorating them with the Legion of Honor a few years apart. Honorary decoration which will be the theme of the museum’s next exhibition under the title “The Legion of Honor, Pride and Humility”. From July 12th to September 20th, 2024, 70 photographs by Ralph Gibson will reflect on the meaning of the national order with great respect and admiration for the other recipients.
Marine Aubenas
Gibson Ι GoEun Museum of Photography
16 Haeun-daero 452beon-gil
Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea
https://www.goeunmuseum.kr/
