Daniel Gordon (artist) explained

Daniel Gordon
Birth Date:1929
Birth Place:Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality:American
Known For:Photography
Still life
Portraiture
Training:BA Bard College
MFA Yale School of Art
Awards:Foam Paul Huf Award, 2014

Daniel Gordon (born 1980) is an American artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Life and work

Daniel Gordon was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980, and grew up in San Francisco, California.[1] In 2003 he received a BA from Bard College and in 2006 he received an MFA in Photography from the Yale School of Art.[2] He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.[3]

Gordon is best known for producing colorful photographic portraits[4] and still-lifes made from constructed tableaus.[5] Using a layered and almost circular process, Gordon creates temporary sculptures made from images mined from the internet that are printed, cutout, and remade into three dimensional objects.[6] Then, these objects, are staged before colorful or patterned backgrounds[7] with layered and altered shadows,[8] and photographed.[9] For many years, Gordon created these images using large-format cameras and film, but during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, made the switch to using a digital camera.

Gordon’s process when applied to the human form renders fleshy and fragmented results that “stimulate[s] both attraction and repulsion.” His portraits depict busts in profile,[10] and at times more confrontational figures. These almost anonymous amalgamations have been compared to Frankenstein's monster. Gordon’s images reveal their own making, he leaves hot glue streaks and the rough textures of torn paper in the images. “I’m more interested in…showing my hand and letting people see the imperfection,” the artist says.[11]  

Gordon’s still-lifes feature potted house plants, fruits, vegetables, and vases.[12] These compositions, which are often printed at larger-than-life scale, straddle the line between real and unreal,[13] representing space as both two and three-dimensional at the same time. The resulting photographs combine aspects of sculpture, painting and collage.[14] His engagement with the still-life genre and use of color has inspired comparisons to the works of Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse,[15] and Dutch still-life painting.  

Beginning in 2014, Gordon began exhibiting works from his screen selections series.[16]  These works are made from digital selections of Gordon’s still-lifes that are then blown-up and distorted, then used to create a repeated pattern. The resulting photographs, printed on canvas, resemble abstract paintings.

In 2021, Gordon debuted his first public art commission at the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, Massachusetts.[17] The exhibition featured a large-scale mural, several photographs, a twelve-foot sculpture of a vase of blue poppies, and flag-like banners.[18] The exhibition remained on view until May 2022.

In his 2023 solo exhibition Free Transform at Kasmin Gallery in New York City, Gordon displayed his sculptures alongside his photographs for the first time. These vases, urns, and vessels were crafted in the artist's characteristic style, patchworked from ink-jet prints.

Exhibitions

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

Publications

Public collections

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: August 2023 . Daniel Gordon CV . September 18, 2023 . Kasmin Gallery.
  2. News: Berlant . Claire . March 2012 . Photography and the Object Manque . 113 . Art In America . September 18, 2023.
  3. Fateman . Joanna . 2023 . Goings On About Town- Art: Daniel Gordon . 2023-09-19 . The New Yorker . en.
  4. https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_press-release_387191.pdf?_ga=2.266710542.1288670536.1693506529-854770267.1693506529 (Press Release). New York, New York: The Museum of Modern Art. September 9, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  5. News: Lauter . Devorah . Winter 2018 . Inventing New Perspectives in Paris . 88–97 . BlouinShop.
  6. Web site: Blue . Max . 2022-08-23 . Pier 24 presents the best of contemporary photography . 2023-09-19 . San Francisco Examiner . en.
  7. http://www.danielgordonstudio.com/work/20 Daniel Gordon: Still lifes, Portraits & Parts
  8. Web site: Daniel Gordon Gets Physical . 2023-09-19 . Art21 . en.
  9. Web site: Fulleylove . Rebecca . October 25, 2016 . Daniel Gordon plays with perspective with his brightly coloured collaged works . 2023-09-19 . www.itsnicethat.com . en.
  10. News: Robertson . Rebecca . March 2011 . Building Pictures . 76–83 . Art News.
  11. News: Allen . Emma . November 2010 . The New Collage . Modern Painters.
  12. News: Rosenberg . Karen . November 6, 2014 . Daniel Gordon: 'Screen Selections and Still Lifes' . The New York Times.
  13. News: Smith . Roberta . February 16, 2017 . Making The Art is Only the First Step . The New York Times.
  14. News: de Agostinis . Giada . April 14, 2020 . Focus on: Daniel Gordon . Photograph Magazine.
  15. January 27, 2014 . Goings on About Town: Daniel Gordon . The New Yorker.
  16. December 1, 2014 . Goings on About Town: Daniel Gordon . The New Yorker.
  17. Web site: June 7, 2021 . The Greenway Gets A Zesty Mural With A Lobster And A Fern . 2023-09-19 . www.wbur.org . en.
  18. Web site: Daniel Gordon on The Greenway, 2021 . 2023-09-19 . The Rose Kennedy Greenway . en.