Jean Dubuffet & John Fahey

Picture Theory is pleased to present an exhibition bringing together works by Jean Dubuffet and John Fahey, two figures who moved fluidly between the visual and sonic realms, opening new ground between music and visual art. Best known respectively as a painter and a pioneering guitarist, both artists treated music and image as parallel fields of experimentation.

Dubuffet, the founder of Art Brut, maintained a deep engagement with music throughout his career, composing experimental works and collaborating with avant-garde musicians. His visual language—rhythmic, improvisational, and resistant to academic tradition—shares affinities with the structures of free and experimental music.

Fahey, widely regarded as a foundational figure of American primitive guitar, similarly approached music with a visual sensibility. Alongside his recordings and performances, he produced drawings and paintings that echo the improvisational spirit of his compositions. His practice reflects a porous boundary between sound and image, where mark-making and musical phrasing emerge from the same exploratory impulse.

Bringing Dubuffet and Fahey into dialogue highlights a long tradition of artists who move between disciplines—musicians who draw, painters who compose—treating artistic practice not as a single medium but as an evolving field of rhythm, gesture, and intuition.