For more than four decades, Gibson has centered his practice on the sphere, using it to explore the spatial language of painting. Often decorated with a minimal pattern to emphasize its illusory curvature in space, he uses his subject to comment on the elusive goal of depicting life in a way that captures and approximates, but never quite aligns with, three-dimensional reality. The tension between flat and dimensional space has always been central to painting; in a sense, the history of painting is the story of its engagement with this concept, from the invention of perspective to the breakthrough of cubism, which fused the two, to the flattening of the picture plane in modern abstract painting. Gibson’s patterned spheres allude to this history while at the same time retaining their integrity as basic objects—an interplay of opposing forces: flatness and roundness, lightness and darkness, simplicity and complexity. John’s paintings are in major public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

 

In this exhibition, many of the works take their titles from 19th-century whaling ships that once sailed from Nantucket and New Bedford—ports that stood at the center of the American whaling industry. The names of these historic vessels provide an evocative framework, establishing a tone that is suggestive and expansive while allowing each painting to retain its own distinct identity. For Gibson, these voyages serve as a metaphor for the act of painting itself: a pursuit shaped by uncertainty, endurance, and the search for something just beyond reach. Like the whaler setting out to sea, the painter embarks without guarantees, guided by intuition and persistence. Through these titles, Gibson situates his work within a broader narrative of exploration and striving.