Bruce Pearson's Cognitive Dissidence: Shadow Language at Ronald Feldman Gallery
From April 27 to June 8, 2019, Ronald Feldman Gallery at 31 Mercer Street, New York, will host Bruce Pearson's seventh solo exhibition titled 'Shadow Language.' The exhibit showcases 13 paintings created on carved Styrofoam, alongside gouaches and experimental photography. Pearson's intricate abstractions take inspiration from titles such as 'Fear of Death Hope of Heaven Trip to Disney' and 'Not to Interrupt your Beautiful Moment' (both from 2018), utilizing text sourced from talk shows and cultural theory. His artistic method includes hand-drawn outlines and layering text with images. Key pieces include 'Encyclopedia 6' and 'Encyclopedia 7' (2017-18) and 'Code Breakers' (2018). Recent projects with poets and a photographer feature sculptures made from laser-cut letters.
Key facts
- Exhibition runs April 27 to June 8, 2019
- Location: Ronald Feldman Gallery, 31 Mercer Street, New York City
- Seventh solo show for Bruce Pearson at the gallery
- Main works are 13 paintings on carved Styrofoam layers
- Process: hand-drawn text outlines, added layers, transfer to Styrofoam, painting
- Includes gouaches, photography, and collaborations
- Works reference talk TV, Language Poetry, self-help, cultural theory
- Encyclopedia series fractures text into hundreds of colored cusps
- Code Breakers uses only white variants
- Shadow Language features color defying surface corrugations
- Fear of Death Hope of Heaven Trip to Disney combines Catholic pilgrimage image with title
- Not to Interrupt your Beautiful Moment is a grid-and-text throwback with concentric font
- Some paintings comment on their own making (Fat Chance, Trip in Progress, A Fresh Pair of Eyes)
- Pearson's work contrasts with Sigmar Polke's Provisional Painting
- Raphael Rubinstein linked Pearson to artists like James Siena and Fred Tomaselli in 2003
- Collaborations with Claudia Rankine, Anselm Berrigan, and Zack Garlitos
- Early Styrofoam paintings were looming extrusions from bio-Baroque drawings
Entities
Artists
- Bruce Pearson
- Sigmar Polke
- Raphael Rubinstein
- James Siena
- Fred Tomaselli
- Joe Amrhein
- Mark Dean Veca
- Lori Ellison
- James Esber
- Charles Spurrier
- Art Spiegelman
- Robert Crumb
- Claudia Rankine
- Anselm Berrigan
- Zack Garlitos
- Josef Albers
- Victor Moscoso
Institutions
- Ronald Feldman Gallery
- MoMA
Locations
- New York City
- SoHo
- 31 Mercer Street
- New York
- United States
- Yale