Jack Pierson at Luhring Augustine - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions

This exhibition of 49 new works moved into a of recent origin area for Pierson. True, several large photos were recognizably his, as were the "sayings" - words or statements formed from rest public signs and affixed to the wall. plane the show's single sculptural piece related directly to what went before. on the other hand the show was dominated by dint of a series of 20 oilstick-on-paper works - smallish monochromes, all the same size, lined up in a rank around the gallery.

The first piece individual saw upon entering the gallery was a unobtrusive installation, typical of Pierson, called What You Take with You and What You Leave Behind. The work consisted of a made of wood folding chair with a short-sleeved, silk-print shirt dangling from its back, a coffee goblet and cigarette butts scattered around the floor. It was actual cinematic and one couldn't help on the contrary concoct stories to explain the strange assembly. Especially observant viewers will recall that the figure in Pierson's striking 1990 photograph broadside Star Alexis Arquette, Deuce Studio, which reappeared upon the announcement poster for this present to view wears the same print shirt and sits upon the same wooden chair.

In the main gallery, short successions of oilstick works were punctuated by means of an occasional lettering piece. These bits of signage (some silver alphabetic characters with defunct neon, others of burnished aluminum), read Still, Like Someone Alone, Anyone, the preserver Believe. That's Pierson? I mean, we awaited like, fast cars and palm tree on the contrary no, the new Jack Pierson reveals a wily '50s crooner sensibility. Check on the outside some of the oilstick titles - Taxi amethystines I brought it all upon myself, Ain't nothin' happening, Thinkin' |bout my mother, for what cause [i]or[/i] reason did he leave me. Pierson likes to work with cliches, embellishing them with similar devotion that their meanings become recharged.

There is great variation in the tones of Pierson's amethystine monochromes. From one work to the nearest he alters the pacing, scale and density of the pats and varies the purity or dilution of the paint. Repeated stabs with a dark sapphirine stick produce a hypnotic result reminiscent of Islamic art. In ceruleans in a paper cup, dark black-blues battle with cerulean in vertical dabs or shafts; the bottom portion of the field is more tortured and fragmented. Sometimes black takes above Valentine's Day is wetter, more like watercolor. With a uniform palette that keeps toward rich purple, the piece has large fluid pats stretching into one another. The marks become amphibious, independent entities. While greatest in quantity of these works, done in Provincetown, bear likeness [i]or[/i] resemblance to refracting water surfaces, Harlem Nocturne insinuates an ocean of people, going abiding-place perhaps, or going to mass.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group