For close to three decades, Pierson has created a multi-disciplinary artistic practice that utilizes the visual languages of photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture to examine themes of memory, desire, longing, absence, despair, and glamour.

The exhibition brings together a selection of Pierson’s signature large-scale word sculptures formed from individual found letters salvaged from vintage commercial signage, collected by the artist over the years. The sculptures are comprised of individual letters–each one with a distinct colour, surface, texture, shape, and size–placed together to create incantations of emotionally charged words and poetic phrases.

Referencing traditional Americana motifs of roadside signage associated with the American West, within the gallery walls his sculptures like BROKE MISERABLE AND ALONE, DUST AND DREAMS, and MANIFEST DESTINY become decontextualised iconic messages imbued with nostalgia and disillusionment.

Jack Pierson was born in Plymouth, MA in 1960, and earned a B.F.A. at the Massachusetts College of Art in 1984. He lives and works in New York, NY and Wonder Valley, CA.

Pierson gained early recognition for being the youngest founding member of the Five of Boston group, which also included fellow classmates David Armstrong, Philip Lorca di Corca, Nan Goldin, and their friend Mark Morrisroe. Together their explorations in photography defined a generation of artists who came to prominence in the late 1980s.

His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Selected solo exhibitions include_5 Shows from the ‘90s_, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2017); OMG, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (2015); Centro de Arte Contempóraneo de Málaga, Malaga (2009); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2008); Regrets, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2002); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1995); among others.

Work by the artist is held in prominent museum collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Baltimore Museum of Contemporary Art, Baltimore; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; among others.

Recent and past publications include The Hungry Years (Damiani, 2017); Tomorrow’s Man4 (Bywater Bros. Editions, 2017); Angel Youth (Charta, 2008); Desire/Despair (Rizzoli, 2006); and Every Single One of Them (Twin Palms, 2004); among others.