Fridman Gallery opens an exhibition of works by Phill Niblock

Phill Niblock, China 88 Slide 94, 1988. Courtesy of Phill Niblock and Fridman Gallery.

NEW YORK, NY.— Fridman Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition of the iconic composer, experimental filmmaker, and photographer Phill Niblock. Working Photos compiles still photography, video, and minimalist sound works created all over the world throughout his six-decade career.

The gallery features many of Niblock’s photographs scored by his drone compositions, editioned prints of his images from around the world, and layered photographs and video works such as Light Patterns, a series of high-contrast black and white slides that slowly dissolve into one another, suggesting the fluidity of memory and place.

The gallery will also screen his videos including The Magic Sun (1966) featuring Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra, a 1986 collaborative video project with Arthur Russell, as well as works featuring Rhodri Davies, and Max Neuhaus. His series, Anecdotes (Stories from Childhood) (1985–1992) will present video portraits of individuals looking into the camera lens and candidly relating childhood memories, which range from the sensational to the abstract.

Niblock will also host a series of concerts throughout the month of December at his nearby historic Experimental Intermedia loft at 224 Centre Street. Finally, on December 21st, Niblock will stage his annual Winter Solstice marathon concert at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn.

Phill Niblock (b. 1933, Anderson, IN) is an intermedia artist using music, film, photography, video, and computers as his medium. The artist’s minimalistic drone approach to composition and music was inspired by the musical and artistic activities of New York in the 1960s, from the art of Mark Rothko, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, and Robert Morris to the music of John Cage and Morton Feldman. Over the past six decades, his music and intermedia performances have been shown at numerous venues around the world, including the Tate Modern in London, The Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, The Institute of Contemporary Art in London, and World Music Institute at Merkin Hall. Since 1985, Niblock has been the director of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in New York where he has been an artist and member since 1968. He is the producer of Music and Intermedia presentations at Experimental Intermedia since 1973 (with 1000 performances to date) and the curator of EI’s XI Records label. Niblock’s music is available on the XI, Moikai, Mode and Touch labels. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2014 Foundation for Contemporary Arts John Cage award.