Artist Post #4: Paul Pfeiffer

Paul Pfeiffer

"John 3:16," detail
2000
Digital video loop, LCD monitor, DVD player, and metal armature, 51/2 x 6 1/2 x 36 inches
Edition of 3, AP of 2
Courtesy the artist and The Project, New York and Los Angeles

"Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (7)"
2001
Digital duraflex print, 48 x 60 inches
Edition of 6, AP of 1
Courtesy the artist and The Project, New York and Los Angeles

"Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (6)"
2001
Digital duraflex print, 60 x 48 inches
Edition of 6, AP of 1
Courtesy the artist and The Project, New York and Los Angeles

"The Long Count (Rumble in the Jungle)," details
2001
Digital video loop, LCD monitor, DVD player, and metal armature, 6 x 7 x 60 inches
Edition of 6, AP of 1
Courtesy the artist and The Project, New York and Los Angeles

All pictures from Art 21

Paul Pfeiffer was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and spent most of his childhood in the Philippines. He attended Hunter College and the Whitney Independent Study Program. He's done artist-in-residence at MIT and ArtPace in San Antonio. He currently lives and works in New York City.

I hadn't heard of Paul Pfeiffer until the last week and I was instantly drawn to him. He came to VCU and had a lecture while I was in Italy. His work was very appealing due to the amount of handiwork involved. Paul Pfeiffer creates different videos and photographs where he manually deletes characters from their original scene. He originally took photos of Marylin Monroe and digitally deleted her from them, leaving behind a ghostly shadow. Pfeiffer then started deleting NBA athletes from old photographs and changing what the meaning of those photographs. Pfeiffer is interested in movie stars and athletes for their spectacle. The attraction from the media of these different people creates strong attention and adoration from the public. His work of deleting people from old footage moves naturally into video. He takes famous fights of Muhammad Ali's career and deletes both boxers. All the viewer sees is the ghostly figures of the boxers moving around in the ring and the flashbulbs and movements of the crowds around them. This deletion is highlighting the boxers strength and the obsession that fans have with these images. People from around the world know who these people are but when you delete them, Pfeiffer is saying that “Pop culture erases history as well. I think of the spectacle as a kind of forgetting.”(Bomb Magazine). That spectacle of any kind is empty but can be filled with whatever the creator wants. Spectacle can be filled with emotion or homage or adoration.

My direct connection with Paul Pfeiffer's work is the grueling schedule. The way that he works appeals to how I work. Creating the final art piece isn't just shooting an image or shooting a video. Its the handiwork and craft behind the image that speaks to me.

And what’s curious to me is it’s actually a process that I enjoy. If I had my way and there were no other added complications to renting a studio I would happily sit in my room and do this work all day. It’s a bit like meditation.

-Art 21

I feel this way when I am cutting out picture of my mom or sitting in front of my screen trying to get Photoshop to do what I want. Its the act of making the art that I enjoy. And Pfeiffer in his interview with Art 21 says that its becomes more like drawing or painting, that you are entered into this different type of thinking. You are creating something new. I was never really that great at drawing or painting but creating and using my hands is relaxing.

Also, Paul Pfeiffer's work with the deletion, is all about forgetting and remembering. You see the figure missing but the clues help cue you in on who the work is about. You see signals and you are informed by your own imagination and can remember perhaps what the original photograph looked like. As part of this society the media and popular culture that informs us of Pfeiffer's work. We can see the missing pieces and that makes us question our exposure to the popular world and the spectacle that is created.

Links:

Interview:

http://bombsite.com/issues/83/articles/2543

Galleries representating Paul Pfieffer:

http://www.thomasdane.com/artist.php?artist_id=12

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/paul-pfeiffer/

Artist Website:

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/pfeiffer/index.html

"BOMB Magazine: Paul Pfeiffer by Jennifer Gonzalez." Interview by Jennifer González. Bomb Magazine Mar.-Apr. 2003. Print.

Pfeiffer, Paul. "Art:21 . Paul Pfeiffer . Interview & Videos." Art 21. PBS. New York, New York, 2003. PBS. Wesley Miller. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/pfeiffer/clip1.html. Transcript.