PAUL PFEIFFER

Whether through televised broadcasts of sporting events, editorial photographs of cultural icons, or the ecstasy of a soccer stadium, Pfeiffer interrogates the consumption of images and culture. For Pfeiffer, the basketball court, the boxing ring, and the stadium not only serve as platforms for grand spectacles but as sites where the body politic—of a nation, of a community, of society—is imagined, defined, and contested.

Spanning two and a half decades of work, the exhibition features works by Pfeiffer in the MCA Collection, including Fragments of a Crucifixion (After Francis Bacon) (1999) and Study for Morning After the Deluge (2001), as well as Self-Portrait as a Fountain (2000), which is part of the recent D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift. This exhibition is the MCA’s fourth that centrally features Pfeiffer’s work, following his career-defining solo show Paul Pfeiffer in 2003, MCA Screen: Paul Pfeiffer in 2018, and Fragments of a Crucifixion in 2019. The accompanying catalogue for this exhibition includes an interview from Fragments of a Crucifixion between Pfeiffer and former MCA Marjorie Susan Curatorial Fellow Chanon Kenji Praepipatmangkol, and features contributions from University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Tom Gunning, artist Julie Mehretu, and historian Lawrence Chua.

Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and curated by Clara Kim, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Paula Kroll, Curatorial Assistant. The MCA presentation is curated by Bana Kattan, former Pamela Alper Associate Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate.