NOTHING IN PARTICULAR
Joshua Pieper
March 30 - April 28, 2012
Romer Young Gallery is pleased to present its third solo exhibition with San Francisco artist Joshua Pieper, Nothing In Particular. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Friday, March 30, 6-9pm.
The title of the show Nothing In Particular sums up the approach Joshua Pieper takes in creating an artwork. The phrase refers to something and nothing at the same time. The artist’s themes derive from language and Pieper’s attraction to art lies in double meaning, the self-referential, and the possibility of obliterating the distinctions between high and low, old and the new, found and fabricated, the real and its representation. His pieces resonate beyond their form, and are witty challenges to preconceived expectations about art and nature.
“Generally I’m still trying to figure out the life of a given artwork, and I try to make things that beg that question.”
Embracing the notion that “nothing is original,” Pieper relishes in the struggle to find his own take on things. He digs into the possibilities of life in a given artwork, creating works that subtly, but very directly, explore the literalness of object making and the originality of everything and nothing. Working out of his apartment, the artist’s representations are drawn from what is “perfectly ordinary” in his everyday experience. Making versions of things that already exist in his domestic setting – plants, lamps, furniture – he ultimately makes objects that he might want to live with, and already does. These works are casual and humorous but in their duplication also probe deeper questions and circle around the idea of originality.
This exhibition includes a 5 channel video/sculpture titled Video Stereo which is a version of the stereo in the artist’s living room, only on video and presented as a sculpture with 5 video monitors, each depicting an element of the stereo; several works from the Dead and Alive series which is made up of small portrait photographs of deceased influences, partially camouflaged by living plants that sit directly in front of the framed photos, and a table with one leg that is far too short.
Joshua Pieper received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2005. His work has been exhibited at Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Los Angeles and Ping Pong Gallery, Blank Space, the San Francisco Arts Commission, New Langton Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the Bay Area.