It’s his 80th birthday the day before the opening of his new exhibition at Leica Gallery in West Hollywood, but photographer Ralph Gibson is all about the future. With the straight-to-the-point title Digital Color, Gibson in his new exhibition declares that, rather than vainly try to get digital to behave like analog film, we should embrace and become fluent in digital photography's — and especially digital color photography's — new and unique visual language.

Ralph Gibson's Digital Color; Credit: Courtesy of Leica Gallery

Ralph Gibson's Digital Color; Credit: Courtesy of Leica Gallery

This is something coming from Gibson, whose celebrated career in art and books has often employed elevated, mysterious and sensual black-and-white film in his taste-making bodies of work. But Gibson is nothing if not au courant, so if he says digital color is worth taking seriously as a proper fine-art idiom, it's definitely worth a fresh take. And if you've got $3,300 and a dream, Gibson leads a four-day bookmaking intensive at the store beginning Friday, Jan. 18.

Leica Gallery Los Angeles, 8783 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood; Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday noon-5 p.m. through Feb. 24. Opening reception Thu., Jan. 17, 6-9 p.m.

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