In 'From the Garden to the Darkness', Gossage’s first solo exhibition in London, two seminal works (referenced in the show’s title) serve as bookends. Gardens, a portfolio of twenty-four photographs published by The Hollow Press and Castelli Graphics was first presented at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1978. It includes text excerpts on the theme of the garden from an anonymous Egyptian manuscript (ca 1300 BC.) to Ezra Pound, via Homer and Proust, selected by none other than Walter Hopps.
Stadt des Schwarz (City of Black), also presented at Castelli in 1987, is a series of photographs John Gossage made at night in Berlin between 1982 and 1986. “Stadt des Schwarz engages, through photography, the realm of myth”, writes Jane Livingston in the book’s introduction. “These images are not about the particularities of a place as much as they are evocative of an inner state.”
John Gossage (b.1946, New York) is known for his artist’s books and photographic publications. His first book, The Pond (Aperture, 1985), is a classic among photographers and educators.
