Shaking The Tree

Shaking The Tree is one of a collection of limited edition archival inkjet prints published to celebrate a catalogue of truly remarkable and unique sound works by Peter Gabriel. Hypergallery considers it a great honour to have a Mapplethorpe work in our collection.

This photo session which took place in December 1986 at Mapplethorpe’s 23rd St. home studio in New York City. One of Mapplethorpe’s colour photographs of Gabriel from this sitting was used for the January 1987 cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

In 1990, a year after Mapplethorpe’s tragic death, two of his black and white photographs of Gabriel were used for the compilation album, Shaking The Tree. Following every photo session that Mapplethorpe did, it was his practice to look through the contact sheets and colour transparencies from them and select the images that he wanted printed. The eyes closed and open photographs of Gabriel, which became the front and back covers of the Shaking The Tree album, were reproduced with the same white borders that Mapplethorpe chose to use for his prints.

This edition brings a wonderful softness to the quiet, poised quality of the photograph, and includes the wide border.

Shaking The Tree comprises two editions: a ‘standard’ size print in an edition of 100 and an XL print in an edition of 25. Every print in this collection has been signed by Peter Gabriel himself. 

READ ABOUT THE COLLECTION