Wednesday 30 October 2013

First Reviews In Already!


Very pleased to see and hear that the reviews of my new publication, "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac" are coming in already! Josef Chaldek writes;
  
"Too long have we held the highest flame for truths within photographic 'representation'" - Brad Feuerhelm in his foreword to Melinda Gibson's "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac" (b.frank books - Roger Eberhard), a book that in every sense you have to work yourself "into" it. I confess I opened the (french fold) pages to not just peek behind the back of photos! Will spend more time with it, just to share the joy (of even the "unboxing") - have a look at this wonderful book.”



Tuesday 29 October 2013

Publisher b.frank books launches "Miss Titus"






Very, very, very proud to announce that my Publishers b.frank books officially launched our new book, "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac" on their website today!!!

Make sure you check it out to see the publication and all the details for ordering the books here: http://bfrankbooks.org/product/miss-titus-becomes-a-regular-army-mac

A list of Stockists coming very soon indeed, keep watching for more information.....

Saturday 26 October 2013




This week, on Tuesday the 22nd October at 16:30, saw my first twitter interview with Genesis Imaging. It was a very interesting way to be interviewed, as you are obviously restricted to 140 characters for an answer, so your thoughts and answers are thought about in a different way. However I did roll over to a few tweets for those impassioned answers, where 140 wasn't nearly enough!!!

With questions and answers like this; 

Genesisimaging: How do you hope your work will be perceived by future generations?

Melinda_jgibson: Another impassioned answer! I think it's important not to focus on 'legacy' or how you want to be perceived, I think...

Melinda_jgibson: ...that leads to failure. I live and work in the present and for me if audiences see and appreciate my work than that is..

Melinda_jgibson: ...is all I could wish for, ultimately I do what I do because it makes me who I am and I wouldn't be Miss Gibson without it!

If you missed it, then look here for the interview in full and make sure you get involved in the next one, they have a great list of contributors: http://www.genesisimaging.co.uk/blog/askmgibson/


Thursday 24 October 2013

Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive - Workshop & Talk 20th & 21st November 2013 in Melbourne, Australia


 

I am very pleased to announce that I will be working with the Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive along with Unless You Will in November, as I do a Full day Workshop and Artist Talk over two days in Melbourne, Australia! 

The workshop will focus on photographic self-publishing, working with appropriated images and collaged-based production in contemporary photographic practice. Running from 10:00 am until 17:00 pm and are very limited, with acceptance of only 8-10 places. The workshop will be both insightful and exciting, as each person is really encouraged to produce new work, exploring how the photographic medium can offer up endless possibilities, as it twists and turns through the hands of each participant. The location of the workshop will be announced shortly. 

The artist talk, I will be in conversation with Dan Rule, director of Perimeter Books and writer for The Age and Vault as well as Heidi Romano, director of Unless You Will. The conversation will provide an opportunity for me to discuss my practice, current and future projects as well as answering insightful questions from the panel as well as from the audience. I am looking forward to what will be asked from both Dan, Heidi as well as the listeners! The talk will be taking place at the Edmund Pearce Gallery from 18:30.

For more information, please view here: http://photobookarchive.com/news/



Monday 21 October 2013

Frieze Art Fair 2013



"Art fairs may be all the same, filled with schlock, shiny things, grim things, and things that make you wonder why galleries across the globe bothered to drag them all the way here, but there's always something to brighten your day as you wander the aisles. The 11th incarnation of Frieze is more manageable than most, with better lighting, wider aisles and a bigger spread of behemoth mega-galleries and startup spaces, young galleries and old lags. Not that the art is necessarily better, though the galleries seem to be trying harder this year." Adrian Searle

As Adrian puts it and so correctly, this years Frieze was indeed much more manageable, and what a great surprise and delight that was, I left without a headache from the lights, but this time from too many a Hix fix, a much better way to endure one! Friday saw me head out to Regents Park and descend on both Frieze London and Frieze Masters, to work my way through thousands and thousands of artworks from the worlds galleries, representing the best in the contemporary and the masters. As you arrive, through the many VIP cars stationed outside, the queues of visitors, what always strikes me is that we have now reached Autumn, Frieze for me always says, golden leaves, bright blue skies, a slight chill in the air and of course, artworks in tents! 

This year for me, I started alone, looking at everything in great detail, spending hours walking up and down each widened corridor, using the time I had to myself, silently taking in all the surroundings and having a plan of action, section, by section. Frieze London was first, and as I wondered through the fair, many wonders greeted me and I was absolutely thrilled to be so inspired by what I was seeing, rather than the usual overwhelming experience. There were many artists whose work I found, but a few to mention are surely, (shown in the photographs above, left to right) Hayley Tompkins at The Modern Institute, Dirk Stewen, Edith Dekyndt at Carl Freedman Gallery, Mary Westerford and Wien Lukatsch Gallery. I am always extremely excited to see The Approach, Maureen Paley, The Lisson Gallery, Matthew Marks, Gavin Browns' stands as well as many others, the list goes on!

For me these artists I mentioned above really stuck something with me, and now on reflection they are mostly women artists, which makes me smile indeed! I found that these works had a real sense of touch, a sensitivity to their chosen medium that felt honest, true and powerful. Each piece in its own way pulls you deep into the core of the painting, into the drawing which excites and inspires me. Tompkins paintings onto plastic are absolutely stunning and Westerford's large scale canvases with neon tubes have such an energy and movement, I became fixated on them. Wien Lukatsch Gallery presented a beautifully curated stand, showing a selection of their represented artists. 

After a very successful Frieze London, I took a lovely stroll up to the Masters, where I enjoyed the much slower, more gentle atmosphere, having some lunch then looking at the classics. It was rather incredible walking from stand to stand, seeing Miro's here, Picasso's there, Renaissance paintings everywhere and a Michelin starred restaurant! For me, it was wonderful to see Robert Motherwell's "Brushy Elgy" painting, a sight that is too beautiful for words and Baldessari's which will forever inspire and excite me, the man is a genius. A truly different experience from the original fair, but a great addition to Frieze.

Then the early evening comes around and I meet with up with a good friend/collector of mine to enjoy our thoughts on the fair, talks and performances as well as a good few cocktails at Hix. As the evening draws to a close, it had been a delightful day and a fabulous evening, Frieze provided all that I had anticipated and much more.


Thursday 17 October 2013

Normal Edition in A Limited Run of 120 Copies



“Cleverly placing the images inside bound pages also creates a permeable, yet physical question of the viewer. That which is to destroy the pages in order to “see”, which at its base is what photography has come to be about: That of the forced spectacle.” Brad Feuerhelm.

Melinda Gibson in collaboration with Kummer & Herrman produce a publication from the visual source material of Brad Feuerhelm’s Archive collection. The resulting publication is a limited, handmade book that is both mysterious and clever witted in its design. You are encouraged to look, open, tear the very pages the images are printed on, revealing others hidden behind.

The images above are from the Normal Edition, a limited print run of 120 copies and each and every book is signed, dated with the time of completion, location as well as a surprise revelation in each book. The foreword, written by Brad Feuerhelm is itself hidden within the insert cards that make up the front and back covers. At every stage, this publication offers up new ways of seeing and reading photography in all its guises. 

A list of stockists will be available very soon.....

Friday 11 October 2013

The Tate In All Its Glory - Mira Schendel




Last weekend I took a special trip to meet a friend at the Tate Modern and we experienced not only a stunning view over the city sipping prosecco, but a truly unbelievable exhibition of an incredible female artist, Mira Schendel. Born in 1919 in Zurich to parents of Jewish heritage, Schendel was brought up in Italy and was later forced out of Milan and stripped of her Italian nationality resulting in her having to end her studies and pass through countries as a refugee. It was not until 1949 that she ended up in Brazil and began her inspiring career as an artist.

Schendels' work explores ideas surrounding aesthetics and philosophy, using asymmetrical shapes, mathematics, text and varying medias to examine the ideas of existence and experience. Her works have a fragility, a tenderness, a quietness that is so beautiful, as you wonder through the exhibition, every room you enter you are taken by her ability to master each and every medium she touches. The use of graphics, layout and lettering in her books, book covers as well as her larger scaled installation pieces are gentle yet powerful. You get a real sense of the women behind the works, as the sense of touch places an intrinsic role. The works on rice paper, for me took me to another world, a place where silence spoke louder than noise and where the Eastern influence meet the South American in such a gentle manner, a coexistence of ideas and ideals. 

Another piece that stuck me was the work titled, "Still Waves of Probability" which was an installation made up of almost transparent fibres along with text from the Old Testament 'Book of Kings' previously made for the 10th Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1969. These long, thin fibres, acted as a wall of diffusion, a mist to the other side. As they touched the floor, they flicked up and the curvature of their form resembled a Japanese drawing of the ocean, small waves on a wooden floor, truly stunning in each and every way.

Every work was a wonder and I can honestly say that I haven't been moved, inspired on so many varying levels, physiologically, creatively like this for so long that it has to be one of the most beautiful exhibitions I have seen all year, but almost years. For anyone who hasn't yet seen the show, it is a must and one that will leave you feeling fulfilled for months and shows the power of making great work.


Friday 4 October 2013

Releasing My New Book... Day 5



Finally, Day 5 sees the release of my new publication, "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac." I am very, very proud of this collaborative partnership, working with the incredible Kummer and Herrman and published by the wonderful b.frank books this book is a true and honest publication that conceptually explores the notion of what it is to really 'see' and 'understand' with a firm nod towards the themes that surround book publishing, as you are presented with a question, to cut open or to leave closed?!

The book is in a Limited Edition of only 120 copies and a Special Edition of only 20 copies. Each and every book is handmade by I, (Melinda) and is signed and dated with the time of completion and location. The Special Editions are boxed, as above and have two photographic prints hidden inside the folds! My publisher, b.frank books will be stocking the publication directly from their website and other distributors I will release at a later date.

Additional press images will be available shortly of both editions including interior shots.

For all book sale enquiries please contact the studio at: studio.melindajgibson@gmail.com

Thursday 3 October 2013

Book Making Performances... Day 4



Day 4 brings us to the two performances that I did at two different locations over the Unseen Photo Fair. The first, was at the exhibition space, in the MC Theatre on the opening afternoon, where I undertook the casual live performance for 2 hours, making the books from start to finish. 

The second performance was at the Unseen Living Room, which lasted a refined 30 minutes, and saw the polished, formal performance. An introduction to both the project and concept by the curators of the "Unnatural Selection" exhibition, Brad Feuerhelm and Daniel Campbell Blight. Then an interplay of live book making alongside music, and projection, whereby the letters of the title where projected at intervals, demonstrating how language can be miss construed and inform different contexts/ ideas depending on the time you see the letters. This mixture of sound, projection and performance made for an incredibly strong setting as the audience came up around the table to see the live book making and as if choreographed, circled and engulfed the table. 

The action of making is so powerful and with all elements produced right in front of your eyes, the concept is truly emphasised and visualized. The live cutting/ knife action proved incredibly effective as new images were revealed and discovered through the splicing opening of Japanese folds.

Watch this space for more on the publication and for further live performance events worldwide....

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Unseen Dummy Award Judging... Day 3



So Day 3 brings us to the judging and what an honor and experience this was. Sharing the judging panel with the likes of Todd Hido, Jorg Colberg, Hans Gremmen, Paul Van Mameren and Shinji Otani was in itself interesting and inspiring as each one of us offered something very different from the others.

We entered a room called The Chapel and what an incredible room it was, with concrete walls and sun that shone through the windows onto the books, it was rather magical, mystical and really set the mood for the next few hours.

With 48 shortlisted book dummies, the list was a mixture of highly professional, designed, almost published books to others that had been stuck, bound, glued and very much handmade. With nearly 50 books, you would of anticipated an array of styles, themes and concepts, but the overview was quite similar with only the odd few offering an alternative. For me this was the first surprise, I eagerly awaited a raw, conceptual overspill of book dummies, but instead found an overspill of gentle thoughtfulness often in high production, in terms of specification and content. But I think this is an important point to make, with the influx and ease of making books, often projects are produced into publications, when in fact their strengths and concepts are better suited elsewhere. As a producer of artist books, my need to make only a handful of books differs greatly from that of a publisher or many other photographers out there that want and need high production runs and sales. This is definitely food for thought!

After hours of looking through the selection, in almost silence for the first half, we started to move books around and make comments about what we had expected, found and wanted to see more of. Considering the varying backgrounds we all come from, a united strength and vision arose. Within the next few minutes there was an eruption of sound as we found our common ground.

Having finalised the shortlist to 5 books we worked hard and harder on the decision to chose the winner  What was very interesting was the shift between 2 books for almost an hour as we deliberated the term, 'Unseen Dummy' and whether Conception or Photographic strength would prevail first. Being part of a panel throws up many exciting discussions, some all in line, others not, but what we all found strength in was a book that truly understood its audience, its design and that the imagery was beautifully shot, the winner Heikki Kaski. If we could of chosen 2 we absolutely would of done, but Kaski had this element to his book that we just couldn't stop picking up and looking at again and again. And to this moment, I can still recall those birds circling in the sky, hidden between two orange sheets - beautiful! 



"Unnatural Selection" Exhibition Opens... Day 2




Next on the Unseen unravel is the opening of the exhibition, "Unnatural Selection" curated by the wonderful Brad Feuerhelm and Daniel Campbell Blight. Here is a little excerpt from the press release. "This exhibition sees nine contemporary female artists delve into photography collector, dealer and writer Brad Feuerhelm’s personal collection of peculiar documents. Either by directly re-using, appropriating or re-engaging images; or by selecting their own previously made work that shares an oblique stylistic relationship with the collection, all the images displayed here attest to the seemingly endless and potent lure of the vernacular and its relationship to contemporary photographic practice."

I presented my new project, "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac" for the first time as both an installation and a new handmade publication. The process for me has always been, and is very much part of my practice, so with this in mind it was very important that each and every element of the new publication was exhibited. The exhibits show the broken down elements of the book, from the flat printed sheets delivered on the pallet, to the insert cards boxed up, to the handmade vitrine displaying the newly finished books. This raw and honest display nods to the growing and exploratory nature of  self publishing and how process is becoming ever more important in contemporary artistic practice.



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