Danziger Projects, in association with Cheim & Read and Paul Kasmin Gallery, is pleased to present a two-person show of collages by Jack Pierson and Elliott Puckette. Based on the artists' interest in the practice of collage as well as their longstanding friendship, the exhibition presents two quite different expressions of the medium. Pierson's collages are made from cut photographic c-prints while Puckette's are assembled works made on heavy handmade artist's papers. Linking the works are the visceral qualities of the finished pieces and the skill and originality of their execution.
Jack Pierson's work explores the emotional undercurrents of everyday life. His photos and collages are colorful quests filled with tropical vegetation, cloud scattered skies, and blurry human figures. Cut and assembled into surprisingly abstract shapes and compositions, the works burst with unexpected color. Like much of his work, including his well-known "word" pieces Pierson's photo-collages compress narrative content while mining the form and color of his visual archive.
Elliott Puckette's work is characterized by her distinct use of line, producing abstract paintings and works on paper that reference the body, calligraphic script, and musical scores. In Puckette's painted works, the line is carved out of colored grounds with a razor blade, while her works on paper reverse the process. Starting with a blank piece of handmade paper, Puckette begins by making a few gestures. A composition is then carefully and painstakingly developed. The line is then meticulously painted in ink, waxing and waning as it journeys around the paper.
Puckette's collage works deconstruct the fluidity of her works on paper. In her own words, collage became "a kind of recycling, of taking old drawings and ripping them up, and reconfiguring them to create a disjointed image." The torn drawings are held together with glue, which starts to pucker underneath the layers of paper. This is "the paper having its own life", she says, and it is a reminder of a loss of control, and a forcible letting go.
Jack Pierson and Elliott Puckette have each had solo exhibitions at Danziger Projects. This is their first joint show at the gallery. Both artists' work can be found in major museum collections throughout the world.