New York – Pace is pleased to present Studio to Stage, an exhibition of music photography by artists within and beyond the gallery’s program. On view at 540 West 25th Street from June 28 to August 19, the show meditates on the evolution of music photography, exploring exchanges across different genres, eras, and geographic locations as part of an homage to the last century of music and the image-makers that documented it. The presentation features photography by Robert Frank, Paul Graham, Peter Hujar, Gordon Parks, Ming Smith, Hiro, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Ari Marcopoulos, Janette Beckman, Rahim Fortune, and other artists. The exhibition is curated by Mark Beasley, curatorial director of Pace Live. Presented chronologically on the gallery’s first floor, the photographs in Studio to Stage, which have rarely been exhibited together, depict iconic musicians of the past 70 years—including Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, John Cage, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths, Spice Girls, Beastie Boys, and more—and reflect the “radical continuum,” as termed by writer Simon Reynolds, of music. The photographs on view capture not only what it means to be a performer, but what it means to be a member of an audience. Spanning early jazz, New York hip hop, British punk, European techno, and other musical movements, Studio to Stage examines the ways that photographers have helped cultivate mythologies around performers and their respective scenes. The legendary venues and audiences of the depicted concerts, festivals, and other performances are also key in the stories told in the photographs on view. Among the highlights in the exhibition are Smith’s photographs of jazz musicians, Marcopoulos’s images of the Beastie Boys and Iggy Pop, and Graham’s photographs of Berlin clubs and raves. Studio to Stage presents the history of music as a boundless and continuous coalescing of varied sounds and geographies. Amid today’s political and social polarization, the exhibition highlights music’s potential for cultivating connections and enactments of appreciation. In addition to the photography presentation on the gallery’s first floor, the exhibition also comprises a video installation on the seventh floor, where albums related to the show will be mounted on the walls. For immediate release Pace is a leading international art gallery representing some of the most influential contemporary artists and estates from the past century, holding decades-long relationships with Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Barbara Hepworth, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, and Mark Rothko. Pace enjoys a unique U.S. heritage spanning East and West coasts through its early support of artists central to the Abstract Expressionist and Light and Space movements. Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy as an artist-first gallery that mounts seminal historical and contemporary exhibitions. Under the current leadership of President and CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace continues to support its artists and share their visionary work with audiences worldwide by remaining at the forefront of innovation. Now in its seventh decade, the gallery advances its mission through a robust global program—comprising exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, performances, and interdisciplinary projects. Pace has a legacy in art bookmaking and has published over five hundred titles in close collaboration with artists, with a focus on original scholarship and on introducing new voices to the art historical canon. The gallery has also spearheaded explorations into the intersection of art and technology through its new business models, exhibition interpretation tools, and representation of artists cultivating advanced studio practices. Pace’s presence in Silicon Valley since 2016 has bolstered its longstanding support of experimental practices and digital artmaking. As part of its commitment to technologically engaged artists within and beyond its program, Pace launched a hub for its Web3 activity, Pace Verso, in November 2021. Today, Pace has ten locations worldwide including a European foothold in London and Geneva, and two galleries in New York—its headquarters at 540 West 25th Street, which welcomed almost 120,000 visitors and programmed 20 shows in its first six months, and an adjacent 8,000 sq. ft. exhibition space at 510 West 25th Street. Pace was one of the first international galleries to establish outposts in Asia, where it operates permanent gallery spaces in Hong Kong and Seoul, as well as an office and viewing room in Beijing. In 2020, Pace opened satellite exhibition spaces in East Hampton and Palm Beach, with continued programming on a seasonal basis. In 2022, the gallery opened its West Coast flagship in Los Angeles, and continues to operate its gallery in Palo Alto.

PACE GALLERY
June 28 – August 19, 2022
540 West 25th Street New York

pacegallery.com