JACK PIERSON

Photography, in one form or another, has always been at the core of Pierson’s output. In this exhibition, he delivers thewell-chosen fruit of his endeavors in the studio over the last three years. Known for his lush, saturated colorphotography, Pierson’s new series of work takes on black-and-white studio photography as a means to investigateintimacy. As he states in the upcoming issue of Cultured Magazine, “I am figuring out whether it’s possible [for me] tocreate an intimate photograph in a studio context...Can I take a picture that is intimate in the way I’m known for...Can Ido that in an empty white space?” In Lucian (2023), the model assumes an academic pose, his body’s graceful curvatureenunciated with a salient luster, his countenance captured in a soft, focused contemplation–even in his composed stasis–as every contour of his physique is transformed into a node of affective possibility. The photograph displays theemotional rigor thriving in Pierson’s new series, as the body is seized in an empyrean meditative moment.

Pierson’s Arrays, in their New York debut at Lisson, anthologize his practice into large-scale optical displays ofassembled imagery. Constructed using magazine pages, photographs, drawings, vintage posters, and other memorabilia,the arrangements are layered and fastened to ten by fifteen-foot metal panels, creating a tonal and thematic connectionbetween each object. Using pink, blue, and black-and-white as organizing principles, the three Arrays explore their ownmateriality as well as the formal qualities of shape and color. Pierson’s process of continuously adding and rearrangingthe diverse components on the wall can be indicative of a collector’s mindset. Each material is afforded a highly-chargedpresence within the whole; works made by Pierson, purchased or found in his travels are set with exquisite, lapidaryskill. For the first time, Pierson’s own watercolors and drawings have been embedded in the new Arrays.

In addition to the Arrays, Pierson is debuting a new suite of sculptures fashioned from silver painted plywood found inhis studio. Continuing an approach of assemblage the he began during time alone during the pandemic, Pierson haserected these freestanding objects in a way that can be read both as plinths or furniture, and they act as structures for thearrangement and display of various materials already within his studio. These may include Pierson’s early 90s drawingsor found photographs, alongside collected folk art, shells, exhibition posters and other ephemera. The works sit alongsideother sculptural pieces, Kodak Composition (2023), Bed Springs (2023) and Driftwood (2022). They provide a structurefor storytelling and the presentation of objects not necessarily made to be art, but that the artist wishes to be treated asart, archived, curated, and brought forth. The process of bringing forth is an ongoing celebration Pierson makes of whathas gone before and what might be in danger of being overlooked.

Coinciding with the exhibition, Pierson will inaugurate a new gallery at 105 Henry Street. The gallery will open to thepublic October 1 from 12-6pm. Elliott Templeton Fine Arts will serve as a tribute to the antique shops that Piersonencountered in New York throughout the 80’s and 90’s often run by older gay men, which have now vanished from themap. The space will feature a broad range of programming and rotating presentations highlighting the male nude,physique photography and antique erotica.