Untitled (Brazil), 2004

Photographer Ralph Gibson has traveled extensively in Brazil to document the country’s vibrant celebrations, beach culture, music, architectural traditions, and, of course, its sports obsession. Gibson captured this image while exploring the coast near the major metropolis of Salvador, when he passed a group of young men playing soccer (futebol in Portuguese). By immersing himself in Brazilian culture, Gibson acutely trained his eye to identify the visual vocabulary of the nation—he would not have “seen” this image otherwise, he has said. As it is, Gibson turns this passing moment into a sophisticated composition, one that calls to mind Surrealist imagery such as René Magritte’s 1964 The Son of Man. In both works, a man’s head has been unusually obscured by a floating object, be it a green apple or a soccer ball in play.

Intimate, erotic, and eerie, Ralph Gibson is able to transform even an empty corner of a room into a poetic masterpiece with his signature Leica lens and a stark, meditative eye. Gibson began training for his long photographic career in the Navy and continued to hone his craft at the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank, who inspired the 1970 publication of Gibson's first book, The Somnambulist.

His photographs, then and now, exude tension and barely contained energy. By turns sexual, disquieting, and surreal, each image is a narrative unto itself. His image Nude With Feather is one of the most coveted nude image on the art market today. The recipient of countless awards, including a fellowship from the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1985 and two honorary doctorates, Gibson continues to inspire younger photographers with international exhibitions and more than 40 publications.

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