Bruno David is pleased to present on March 6, Show of Hands, an exhibition by New York-based photographer/musician and St. Louis native Jacob Blickenstaff. This is the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery.
“Show of Hands offers a new perspective on the emotional, spiritual and physiological transmission of music through the hands of remarkable musicians. The emphasis in most contemporary music photography is often on full-body, “peak moment” gestures and the effortful contortions that speak more to fandom than understanding of the music. But on closer inspection, hands are just as active, if not more-so, in the transmission of music from the creative inner-soul into the instrument and through to the listener. The miraculous dexterity and fine-tuned athleticism involved with playing a guitar, bass, piano—or even a vocalist using their hands to make subtle changes in the position of a microphone or to gesture to the audience—shape our connection to the artist and their music. Hands can also express compassion, excitement, and an effort of an artist to give themselves to the audience. By focusing on the hands, I’ve discovered that every artist has unique gestures and mannerisms that provide subtle clues to their inner-identity. With Show of Hands, I hope to reorient our connection to music and to the artist. The hands that appear in this show are all connected to gifted and influential musicians including Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Blake Mills, Pino Palladino and Daniel Lanois among others.”
Blickenstaff (b. 1979) grew up in St. Louis and moved to New York in 1997 initially to pursue a career in music but transitioned into photography, where he (unsurprisingly) gravitated back towards music as a central point of interest and inspiration. He’s contributed images to over 50 album projects including notable covers for Natalie Merchant, Makaya McCraven, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, The Cactus Blossoms, Joe Jackson and John Pizzarelli. In the 2010s, he photographed numerous culture assignments for The New York Times, visually complimenting the writing of leading cultural critics. His photo essays have been published in The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone and Mother Jones, and in 2009 the Stax Museum of American Soul Music presented a solo exhibition Still Life In Soul that explored the culture and history of soul music. He is currently working on a book that surveys his seven years of intimate documentary images of soul singer Sharon Jones.
In 2024, Jacob launched That Million Dollar Bash, an intimate photo essay-driven Substack that chronicles his encounters with a broad spectrum of today’s musical luminaries. He lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, June, and maintains a photo studio in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood.
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