Installation view, ‘ RICHARD JACKSON WORKS ’ , Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse, until 2 3 December 2022 © Richard Jackson . Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth . Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
Zurich — The moment I stepped into the gallery Hauser & Wirth, a moveable feast of colors witnessed me. Vivid neon signed flash with puns or statements, filling up the right flank of the gallery. On the left flank, plentiful canvases piled up, paint drops seemed to fall from the gaps of each canvas. At the far side of the gallery, a dyed fairground shooting range-shaped installation was built up. Colors, either shined from artificial neon pipes, or shaped the drops due to its liquid state and gravity, even speed. Painting, as the artist himself stated, «is evidence of a work performed, of process».
Richard Jackson, born in 1939, is active in American Contemporary art since the 1970s. By the influence of both Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting, this pre-eminent figure explores a performative painting process that seeks to extend the potential of painting by upending its technical conventions.
The most recent work titled ‹1000 Pictures›, 2022, extends this concept to Hauser & Wirth gallery, where Jackson individually stretches, paints, and stacks a thousand canvases by hand. Viewing it together with the bright neon work ‹Art Fair Party›, 2014, a direct and humorous critique of the structure of the commercial art world has been declared.
This exhibition presents a survey of Jackson’s Neon works and some sketches from the past three decades. The word «Painting» lights up in multiple stages, flashing a sentence «Aint Painting A Pain» seems to echo to Jackson Pollock’s destruction of the tradition of painting[1].
‹Big Pig›, 2007, and ‹deer beer dick duck›, 1999, engage with the artist’s longstanding interest in a hunting culture. Besides, an impressive installation ‹Shooting Gallery›, 2020, recreates a fairground shooting range inspired by Swiss and American carnivals.
The exhibition ‹Richard Jackson Works› is expecting your visit in gallery Hauser & Wirth from 2 Sep to 23 Dec 2022.
Yue Wu, CAS Schreiben in Kunst und Kultur, ZHdK, 2022
[1] Allan Kaprow, «The Legacy of Jackson Pollock», Artnews, 1958.