January 16, 1939

Ralph Gibson (January 16, 1939) is an American photographer. His work uses the picture as a canvas for adventuresome art. The import of his ambitions is clearer from this interview:

'Ralph Gibson is one of contemporary photography’s major heroes. ... He was in Paris recently for the opening of a show of his new work, “In Situ”, at the Agathe Gaillard Gallery and gave the following interview:

'Paris Voice: Your work usually has some point of departure. What is it these days?

'Ralph Gibson: The most interesting thing about being me at this moment is simply that after thirty years of staring at the world through my rangefinder, I realize more and more that I have not only just begun, but I am more subject to the forces that caused me to be a photographer in the first place.

'I have created nothing, but I have been created, and the idea of a point of departure is really about subjecting oneself to a higher voice. I am not going to get metaphysical, but I am definitely a man who plays homage to his muse.

'And in pursuit of my own little myth I find myself following this voice. And it continues to lead me. In the history of photography we have many masterpieces in terms of black and white books. You have Bresson’s Decisive Moment, Frank’s The Americans…many masterpieces. But there is nothing to this caliber in color. Well, I think I’ll waltz with my muse and hope that I might be able to produce something on this order in color.

'Paris Voice: The muse can be a capricious lady, has she ever left you?

'Ralph Gibson: Never! I have never lost my inspiration. In thirty years the only constant in life has been my relationship to the medium. First you study photography, then you practice photography, then you serve photography, and finally one becomes photography.

'Paris Voice: What do you mean, “become photography”?

'Ralph Gibson: It’s the point, which perhaps I haven’t reached, but now know of, where there is no separation between one’s life, one’s work and the results of what one does. I’m talking about a total integration. It doesn’t have anything to do with enlightenment. It is something that can only be explained by practicing it.

'Paris Voice: Religious faith is sometimes described that way!

'Ralph Gibson: I understand these concepts…I am only talking about my relationship to my work. It’s not a question of faith. Faith is the substance of things unseen. Religion is another discourse. Photography is physical fact.

'Paris Voice: In your book Tropism your surprised me by saying photography is by its nature surreal; that’s at odds with at least half the tradition of photography.

'Ralph Gibson: I am not sure to what extent the tradition of photography – whether modernist or post-modernist – is beholden to any concepts of the surreal. However, ... For me it is just what I do all day long. It’s neither good nor bad. But when you spend 24 hours a day contemplating the nature of things and how they are photographed and what they subsequently mean, one starts to act in a different matter.
....

'Let’s begin with a traditional notion of snapshot. We take a picture of grandma standing in front of the house. Everybody does this and loves this. So, we have solved one problem, which is to depict grandma in front of the house only to create a much larger one. We have depicted grandma in front of the house – now what? Well, the minute you have made a photograph you are in trouble because you can’t just read it. You have to assimilate its meaning. The reason photography in France is currently moving so well is because of the ability of the French to assimilate philosophical meaning into their everyday life.

'The audience for photography, especially in Paris, goes outside the traditional photographic audience. In America I am very well-known by photographers; in Paris, perhaps I am also well-known by people who are not photographers. In France photography is a form of thought, which is embraced by a large body of the population. In America, photography is something embraced by people who love photography.
....
'A manipulated image doesn’t pose a riddle. The conundrum of so-called straight photography will always be much more intense that the manipulated image. Painting will always have incredible depth because of itself. But photography combined with painting is not. There are a few great people like Witkin, but his work is more about the construction of the tableau. For all his smirtzing around and fooling with the surface, he doesn’t necessarily have to do that. His work would be terribly strong without it...

'Well, to think visually is a kind of nonlinear way of being, and if you look at what’s going on theoretically in the writings and works of what people are trying for in Europe, it’s clearly the next thing…Now there is a generation after my generation starting to come of age, influenced by the discoveries of my generation, plus video, satellites, walking on the moon, computers and such.
....
'Paris Voice: What were you saying about focus at the Gallery on opening night?

'Ralph Gibson: The idea is to break the focus. Somerset Maugham said, “There are three steps required to write a great novel, unfortunately nobody knows what they are.” Jean-Luc Godard said, “Every film must have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that sequence.” Well, I like the idea of a photograph having a foreground, a middleground and background, but not necessarily arranged in that manner.

..... The question then is, does the eye reveal something or is something revealed to the eye?

'Paris Voice: In the show at Agathe’s do you have a favorite image?

'Ralph Gibson: Yes, the one of the menu on the cover of my new book. One of the reasons I love that photo so much and use it on the cover is because I have always used typography or typographic forms in my books and projects. I continue to flirt with typography and signs.

'Paris Voice: Have you experimented with text and images together?

'Ralph Gibson: I have been trying. Text is harder for me than images. I am articulate when I speak, but when I sit at the word processor it comes slowly…linearity has never been my strong suit...'

And another way to summarize Ralph Gibson's attitude to his art is in this quote of his:

'You see, I'm not interested in mediocrity in photography. I'm not interested in selling cat shit to dogs. I just want to do my own thing. If people like my work, all the better. If they don't, too bad.'