Jack Pierson

Jack Pierson (born 1960 in Plymouth, Massachusetts) is a photographer and an artist. He studied at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Pierson has made a name for himself with a body of work that includes photographs, collages, word sculptures, installations, drawings and artists books. His "Self-Portrait" series was shown in the 2004 Whitney Biennial and his works are collected by major museums worldwide. Jack Pierson currently divides his time between his home and studio in the Southern California desert near Joshua Tree National Park and New York. He has photographed many well-known celebrities and models, including Michael Bergin, Naomi Campbell, Snoop Dogg, Massimiliano Neri, Brad Pitt, and Antonio Sabato Jr.

Work

Pierson's practice embodies an array of media spanning from wall-drawings, word-pieces, installations, drawings, paintings and photographs.^[1] He is considered to be part of a group of photographers known as the Boston School -- David Armstrong, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Nan Goldin, Mark Morrisroe and twins Doug and Mike Starn,^[2] among others. All of them knew one another in the early 1980s and photographed their immediate circle of friends in situations that were, or appeared to be, casual or intimate.^[3]

Pierson first began making his Word Sculptures in 1991, utilizing found objects – mismatched letters salvaged from junkyards, old movie marquees, roadside diners, Las Vegas casinos, and other forsaken enterprises. The word sculptures create individual words or phrases that evoke a multiplicity of meanings.^[4]

Commissioned in 1997 by the artistic collective Bernadette Corporation, Pierson's video Past Life in Egypt is a collaboration with Ursula Hodel, who plays an outrageous and glamorous dominatrix in the video. At one point, her character sadly recounts her past life as a wicked queen of Egypt, in love with a much younger man and impervious to the suffering of her people. The narrative is at times humorous, sensational and spectacular, but is ultimately grounded in the haze of past memories and the regrets of a past life.^[5]

In 2003, Pierson published Self Portrait, a book of photographs by features 15 images of beautiful men, arranged to suggest the arc of a lifetime—beginning with a young boy and progressing to old age with men in various stages of undress; none of the images is of the artist himself.^[3]

In 2006, inspired by an earlier series of pencil drawings he did from an old postcard of a woman's face, Pierson produced a suite of twelve large-scale silkscreen paintings, all linearly graphic in black ink on diffused, off-white linen. Removed from its original and singular representation in a photograph, the portrayed woman's facade is variously multiplied by hand and then enlarged by the machine-like reproduction of silkscreen.^[5]

In a group of what Pierson refers to as "first page drawings", original texts from various female authors, already multiplied by machine to the printed word, are returned to the realm of the singular and hand written original. Pierson diligently copies the first page of books-penned by Barbara Pym, Jean Rhys, Sister Wendy and Marilyn Monroe, among others-on 11 x 14 inch paper.^[5]

Other projects

Pierson's work is regularly commissioned for magazines and he has undertaken photography projects for several luxury fashion houses.^[6] Commissioned by the Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta, he photographed models Liya Kebede, Karmen Pedaru and Alexandre Cunha for the men and women’s 2012 spring/summer ad campaign along Coconut Grove, Florida.^[7]

For the project The Source, artist Doug Aitken filmed a conversation with Pierson, exploring the essence of his creative process.^[8]

Private life

Pierson is openly gay.^[9] He was a boyfriend of famous American photographer Mark Morrisroe at the time Morrisroe lived in Boston.

Solo exhibitions

2009 Kunst-Station St. Peter, Cologne 2009 Centro de Arte Contemporàneo, Malaga 2009 Christian Stein, Milano 2008 Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2008 Xavier Hufkens, Bruxelles 2007 Xavier Hufkens, Bruxelles 2007 Regen Projects, Los Angeles 2007 Centre d”Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain 2006 “Recents works”, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris 2006 “Selfportraits”, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich 2006 “The Golden Hour”, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin 2006 Jack Pierson / Tom Burr, Galerie Neu, Berlin 2005 Danziger Projects, New York 2005 “Self Portraits”, Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid 2005 Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA 2005 Alison Jacques Gallery, London 2005 “Early Works and Beyond-Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York 2004 Alison Jacques Gallery, London 2004 Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich

2003 Cheim &Read, New York 2003 Galerie Roger Björgholmen, Stockholm 2003 “why Jack Pierson”, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery and Hamilton Galleries 2003 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia 2003 Aurel Scheibler, Cologne 2002 “Regrets”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami 2002 Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg 2002 “Electric dreams”, Barbican Art Galleries, London 2002 Andre Simoens Gallery, Knokke-Zoute 2002 Aurel Scheibler, Cologne 2002 “Undentified Youth”, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris 2001 Taché-Lévy Gallery, Bruxelles 2001 Photology, Milano 2001 Regen Projects, Los Angeles 2001 Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton, New York 2000 “La vie”, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris 2000 Robert Pearre, Tucson

1999 Cheim & Read, New York 1999 Sprengel Museum Hannover 1999 Galleri Roger Björkholmen, Stockholm 1999 Espacio Aglutinador, Havanna, Cuba 1999 Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA 1999 The Art Association, Provincetown, MA 1999 Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1998 Galerie Roger Bjorkholmen, Stockholm 1998 American Fine Arts, Co., New York 1998 “An Artificial Night”, The Art Ginza Space, Shiseido, Tokyo 1998 “Pay me in coke”, Taka Ishii Gallery Tokyo 1998 Regen Projects, Los Angeles 1998 Aurel Scheibler, Köln 1997 CapcMusée d”art contemporain, Bordeaux 1997 Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt a.M. 1997 New Photographs, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown 1997 Aurel Scheibler, Köln

1997 Edition Schellmann, New York 1997 Gio Marconi, Milano 1996 “NZET PROJEKT”, Gent 1996 Luhring Augustine, New York 1996 White Cube, Londons 1996 Modulo Centro Difuso de Arte, Lisboa 1996 Galerija Dante Marino Cettina, Stella Maris, Croatia 1996 Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Paris 1996 Regen Projects, Los Angeles 1996 Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal 1995 Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco 1995 Baldwin Gallery, Aspen 1995 Parco Gallery, Tokyo 1995 Theoretical Events, Napoli 1995 “Traveling Show”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago 1995 Aurel Scheibler, Köln 1995 Texas Gallery, Houston

1995 Galleri Index, Stockholm 1995 Galleri Roger Björkholmen, Stockholm 1994 Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown 1994 Luhring Augustine, New York 1994 “American Dreaming: The Work of Edward Hopper and Jack Pierson”, *1994 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1994 Regen Projects, Los Angeles 1993 Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco 1992 Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York 1992 White Columns, New York 1992 Aurel Scheibler, Köln 1992 Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles 1991 Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles 1991 Pat Hearn Gallery, New York 1990 Simon Watson, New York

Collective exhibitions

•2009: "Ca me touche", les invités de Nan Goldin, at Les Rencontres d'Arles festival, France.

See also

• Five of Boston

References

1. Jack Pierson Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris/Salzburg.
2. Kristine McKenna (June 1, 1997), Chronicle of a Death Foretold Los Angeles Times.
3. Philip Gefter (December 18, 2003), Self-Portrait as Obscure Object of Desire; Jack Pierson's Autobiography, of Sorts, in Photographs of Unidentified Men New York Times.
4. Jack Pierson, April 14 – May 12, 2007 Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
5. Jack Piersom: Melancholia Passing Into Madness, March 30 - May 6, 2006 Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.
6. Jack Pierson Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels/Paris.
7. Ann Binlot (January 3, 2012), Bottega Veneta Taps Jack Pierson for Latest Arty Ad Campaign ARTINFO.
8. Doug Aitken – The Source: Jack Pierson, 7 December 2012 Tate Modern, London.
9. Beemyn, Brett (1997), Creating a Place for Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community, Routledge, p. 230, ISBN 0-415-91389-6

External links

• Jack Pierson Studio
• Jack Pierson at Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
• Jack Pierson at Aurel Scheibler
• Jack Pierson at Regen Projects, Los Angeles
• Jack Pierson at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris-Salzburg