“The music’s here then it’s gone — like a dream.” William Eggleston
Weinstein Hammons Gallery is pleased to present Music Box, a historical group exhibition devoted to music and musical expression in celebration of our 25th year. Comprising works by more than 40 artists, the exhibition encompasses over nine decades of music, in photography and related media. The exhibition will be on view by appointment starting January 30th.
Ever since the gallery began in 1996, it has periodically presented unique historical group shows with the aim of delving deeper into specific, interesting themes and times in history. Past exhibitions, for example, include The Fashion Show, works by women fashion photographers spanning over nine decades, The Pyramids: 150 Years of Photographic Fascination, and Rites of Assembly the first show dedicated to photographers who specialized in images of large groups of people. The inspiration for the current exhibition comes from August Sander’s famous Circus Artists, in which he captured seven circus artists in their most candid moments. Caught up in the intense expressions of the circus artists sitting around in a circle, a detail often overlooked is the record player that not only holds the photograph compositionally, but also characterizes the spirit of the era in which it was taken. Music Box seeks to visually explore this spirit and the timeless emotional response it brings.
The works selected for the exhibition illustrate different facets of the long relationship between music and photography, traversing through such quiet moments as the photograph of John Lennon's lips and a still life of a disco ball, to the intense reaction of a crowd taking in a performance by Lil’ Bow Wow. Visually, the content varies from still lives and portraits of performing musicians to the people for whom they perform, through such disparate settings as recording studios, city streets, domestic spaces of performance, bar scenes, and concert venues. Throughout the exhibition the presence of music becomes extractible through one of the most realistic art forms: photography.
Viewed all together, Music Box is an eclectic exhibition that aims to magnify the emotional ethos of music and photography. Included are works by Tom Arndt, Dawoud Bey, Bruce Davidson, Ed Van Der Elsken, Eliott Erwitt, Gail Albert Halaban, Erik Madigan Heck, Andre Kertesz, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Luis González Palma, Gordon Parks, Marcia Resnick, Nancy Rexroth, August Sander, Martin Schoeller, Sanlé Sory, Alec Soth, Mike and Doug Starn and Weegee, among many others, including unknown 20th century photographers.
Please enjoy the Music Box playlist with songs inspired by the images in the exhibition by Twin Cities musician and friend of the gallery, James Taylor.
