Ralph Gibson : Brazil

With the intimacy that has become his trademark during a photographic practice covering more than 40 years, Ralph Gibson now captures Brazil in all its carnivalesque splendor. Here are the vibrant colors, both natural and manmade, of the tropics; the beating sun on the beaches and the beating drums of a joyous band; and, of course, the faces and figures of that country’s famously exhibitionistic women. Gibson’s photographs have often focused, with unusual sharpness, on a single geometric element (the corner of a room, for instance) or a single human gesture (the curve of a hand). Now his remarkable eye picks up on the neck of a guitar, framed against the white sands of the beach, a reminder of his exploration of the three dimensional within photography. The chiaroscuro of shadow and white linen evokes his previous black-and-white portraits. And a portrait of a man whose head is obscured by a soccer ball, a witty quote of Magritte, connects with Gibson’s lifelong interest in Surrealism.