Jack Pierson

Jack Pierson uses photography, drawing and sculpture to explore the complex emotional narratives surrounding historic and contemporary icons and iconography. He often creates work that can be read as a melancholic hymn to the subject of art and creation, fame, immortality and the passage of time. Pierson succeeds in transforming private impulses into works of art that are rooted in time and yet, seem to transcend it. His word sculptures are constructed from found objects—mismatched letters salvaged from junkyards, old movie marquees, roadside diners, Las Vegas casinos, and other abandoned enterprises. The letters are either arranged in abstract groupings, or combined to create individual words or phrases, and evoke a multiplicity of meanings. Pierson’s photographs and drawings also share a similar sense of specificity and plurality.

Jack Pierson (b. 1960, Plymouth, MA, USA) lives and works in New York and California. A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin in 2008. His works are held in the following public collections: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Norsk Museum of Fotografi, Preus Fotomuseum, Horten; Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Petach Tikva, among many others.