Jack Pierson USA, b. 1960
Overview
"My work documents the tragedy inherent in the search for glamour."
Jack Pierson was born in 1960 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. While studying at the College of Art in Boston, he became associated with a group of artists who would become known as the Boston School, of which Nan Goldin, David Armstrong and Mark Morrisroe were also a central figure. Pierson’s practice incorporates photography, sculpture, installation, painting and found objects through which he explores the varied emotional undercurrents of daily life, from the intimacy of romantic attachment to the idealization of wanderlust.
His large-scale wall sculptures composed of letters in different sizes and materials are diametrically opposed to the hazy, soft-focus effect of his photographs. These photographic works have been compared to images from road movies, whose rapturous race towards fulfilment have become etched into the American landscape, while his Word Pieces are similarly rooted in nostalgia. Rather than valorising the American Dream, however, he reveals the underbelly of this seductive ideal. The mid-century lettering in fact evokes a sense of nostalgia, while the phrases are sourced from the contemporary vernacular – overheard in cafés and his daily commute, or borrowed from political aphorisms and advertising slogans – in works that defamiliarise everyday language. In the 1990s, Pierson primarily used slogans that were a melancholy reminder of the bygone Hollywood heyday, while his more recent works explore philosophical ideas. Concise and sometimes laconic, these works tap into the poetics of modern culture, using classical, literary and biblical quotations that evoke subtle associations for the viewer. They can be considered an American variant of concrete poetry, where language itself is represented through the skillful combination of word and material.
Today Jack Pierson lives and works in both New York City and Southern California. He has widely exhibited in both Europe and America. He has had important solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2002) and at the Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona (2007). A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, in 2008. His work is in several collections, such as; CapcM Bordeaux, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum and Guggenheim.
Works
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Jack PiersonFALSE GODS, 2014aluminum, steel, fiberglass132.1 x 205.7 x 4.4 cm
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Jack PiersonFOR THE LOVE OF GOD, 2019gold leaf, metal, plastic, wood248.9 x 160 x 8.3 cm
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Jack PiersonFREE YOURSELF, 2019Metal97.8 x 175.3 x 4.1 cm
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Jack PiersonIN CALIFORNIA, 2019Gold leaf, metal and wood73.7 x 269.2 x 1.9 cm
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Jack PiersonWITH MARIA AT A PARTY IN ROME, 2020enamel, metal and plastic207 x 142.2 x 3.8 cm
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Jack PiersonPEOPLE LIKE YOU, 2021metal, wood and paint99.1 x 223.5 x 7.6 cm
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Jack PiersonDEMETER, 2014metal and wood100.3 x 218.4 x 4.4 cm
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Jack PiersonPRAY, 2017metal with gold leaf61 x 147.3 x 5.1 cm
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Jack PiersonNO, 2019metal149.9 x 170.8 x 7.6 cm
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Jack PiersonDIMMI, 2023mixed media, wood, metal, plastic150 x 60 x 7 cm
Exhibitions
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Jack Pierson - AETERNITAS
Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy | 6 Nov - 19 Dec 2021For his first solo show in an Italian museum, Pierson has opted for a highly radical choice, directing the public’s full attention towards the installations composed of letters and sentences....Read more -
Jack Pierson - Free Yourself
26 Sep - 11 Nov 2020A classical artist living in New York, the centre of the most extreme contemporaneity, may sound curious. It sounds even more curious that, even though Pierson’s works of art harmonically...Read more -
Pathos - Group show
20 Dec 2019 - 22 Feb 2020No one among the Art historians of the 19th and 20th centuries has gained contemporary artists' interest and inquiry as much as the German historian Aby Warburg. There certainly is...Read more
News
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Conversation with Jack Pierson and Nan Goldin
Video conversation I SVA Theatre, New York, NY January 4, 2024 Read more -
Jack Pierson group show "Copy machine manifestos: artists who make zines"
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA November 17, 2023Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is the first exhibition dedicated to the rich history of five decades of artists’ zines produced in North...Read more -
Jack Pierson group show "The Myth of Normal A Celebration of Authentic Expression"
MassArt Art Museum, Boston, USA October 4, 2023 Read more -
Jack Pierson and Nan Goldin duo show
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA September 23, 2023Nan Goldin and Jack Pierson were part of the “Boston School”—a group of loosely affiliated artists who met in Boston in the late 1970s and...Read more -
Jack Pierson with Lyle Rexer
INTERVIEW | THE BROOKLYN RAIL September 6, 2023 Read more -
Jack Pierson group show "Joan Didion: what she means"
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA October 11, 2022Joan Didion: What She Means is an exhibition as portrait, a narration of the life of one artist by another. Organized by critically acclaimed writer...Read more -
Jack Pierson "The end of the world"
High Desert Test Sites, The Palms Wonder Valley, California, USA April 10, 2022Jack Pierson 'THE END OF THE WORLD' at High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA. HDTS is a non-profit arts organization based in Joshua Tree,...Read more -
Jack Pierson
Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy November 6, 2021For his first solo show in an Italian museum, Pierson has opted for a highly radical choice, directing the public’s full attention towards the installations...Read more -
Jack Pierson - "Because yes"
Video interview I LAUNCH F18 August 24, 2021 Read more -
Jack Pierson group show "Any distance between us"
RISD Museum, Providence, USA July 17, 2021Any distance between us explores the power and significance of intimate relationships in works of contemporary art, particularly those made by artists identified as Queer...Read more -
Jack Pierson "Old Gold"
The National Exemplar Gallery, Iowa, USA June 24, 2021Jack Pierson - OLD GOLD The National Exemplar Gallery, Iowa City, USA. June 24 - August 25, 2021Read more -
Jack Pierson group show "Alphabetic Image"
Arsenal Contemporary Ny, USA June 12, 2021Alphabetic Image addresses how artists represent letters, words, and texts. Through cubism, concrete poetry, graffiti, DADA, and pop art, artists have historically experimented with the...Read more -
Jack Pierson - "Under the Cover"
Video interview I Artforum April 14, 2021 Read more -
Jack Pierson and Marco Cingolani group show "Artissima - Unplugged"
GAM, Turin, Italy November 7, 2020Artissima takes place in an Unplugged version for 2020. A new format, extended throughout the city and online that brings together physical exhibitions produced with...Read more -
Jack Pierson: 5 Shows from the ’90s
Aspen Art Museum, CO February 10, 2017For more than two decades, New York–based artist Jack Pierson has been using the visual languages of photography, painting, sculpture, and drawing to examine intimate...Read more -
Jack Pierson "OMG"
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, USA August 26, 2015MORE INFO HERE !Read more
Bespoke
Publications