Justin Hibbs British, b. 1971
Pictures at an exhibition (dubbed), 2015
Enamel and acrylic on linen
overall dimensions 176.5 x 244 cm; 69 1/2 x 96 1/16 in
each canvas 176.5 x 122 cm; 69 1/2 x 48 in
each canvas 176.5 x 122 cm; 69 1/2 x 48 in
inscribed, dated and titled on reverse
JH0012
Further images
' 'Pictures at an Exhibition (dubbed)' takes its starting point from a record cover designed by Joseph Albers for the recording of Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. The original...
" 'Pictures at an Exhibition (dubbed)' takes its starting point from a
record cover designed by Joseph Albers for the recording of Modest
Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. The original composition was
conceived by Mussorgsky as a depiction of an imaginary exhibition of
paintings in remembrance of his friend the architect Viktor Hartmann.
The piece has become widely re-interpreted, recorded and re-arranged
by other composers since its original conception. For me, this runs
parallel to my interest in the genre of Dub-Reggae where endless new
versions or ‘dubs’ are re-created from an original rhythm; a kind of
generative reinterpretation and reverberation of the original piece of
music.
Albers’ original cover design uses vertical lines to represent sound
waves with voids reversed out of them to represent spaces for the
imaginary pictures. Re-interpreting the image digitally, my own
version departs from the original Lp cover design by incorporating
small square cubes highlighting the ends of each line. These highlighted
shapes relate to the appearance of ‘anchor points’ that appear when a
line is ‘selected’ in Illustrator, the program used to digitally re-create the
image. The painting depicts my ‘selection’ of the elements of the image
at a transitional moment in its translation from a digital reproduction
before being fed back through the analog process of pinstriping the
canvas. This connection between the aural and the visual, the analogue and the digital is central to the concerns within the wider body of work."
record cover designed by Joseph Albers for the recording of Modest
Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. The original composition was
conceived by Mussorgsky as a depiction of an imaginary exhibition of
paintings in remembrance of his friend the architect Viktor Hartmann.
The piece has become widely re-interpreted, recorded and re-arranged
by other composers since its original conception. For me, this runs
parallel to my interest in the genre of Dub-Reggae where endless new
versions or ‘dubs’ are re-created from an original rhythm; a kind of
generative reinterpretation and reverberation of the original piece of
music.
Albers’ original cover design uses vertical lines to represent sound
waves with voids reversed out of them to represent spaces for the
imaginary pictures. Re-interpreting the image digitally, my own
version departs from the original Lp cover design by incorporating
small square cubes highlighting the ends of each line. These highlighted
shapes relate to the appearance of ‘anchor points’ that appear when a
line is ‘selected’ in Illustrator, the program used to digitally re-create the
image. The painting depicts my ‘selection’ of the elements of the image
at a transitional moment in its translation from a digital reproduction
before being fed back through the analog process of pinstriping the
canvas. This connection between the aural and the visual, the analogue and the digital is central to the concerns within the wider body of work."