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Daniel Gordon Joins Kasmin

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Kasmin is thrilled to announce that Daniel Gordon (b. 1980) has joined the gallery. The artist’s first exhibition at Kasmin will go on view in New York in early 2023.

March 22, 2022

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Daniel Gordon

Kasmin is thrilled to announce that Daniel Gordon (b. 1980) has joined the gallery. The artist’s first exhibition at Kasmin will go on view in New York in early 2023. Gordon is known for photography and sculpture that employs appropriation and reproduction in order to question the nature of the image-object relationship. Melding optical illusion, pastiche, mixed media, and a recalibration of analog processes, Gordon consciously reframes what it means to have a photographic practice.

Gordon’s process begins with sourcing found imagery—such as of a vase or a plant—from the internet or by taking pictures with an iPhone. Gordon creates print-outs of these images, which he then cuts and pastes onto a three-dimensional structure that mimics the form and scale of the same vase or plant, thereby reconstructing the depicted object in paper. The resulting objects, albeit seemingly improvised and crudely constructed, are meticulously fabricated. Gordon then arranges these stand-ins into various tableaux, which he photographs from a single, frontal vantage point.

Gordon’s marriage of digital and analog processes results in chromatic, highly layered works that delight in both the obvious and the confounding elements of their creation. Seams and fault lines are left unhidden—a wry celebration of the artist’s hand that also acts to emphasize the material nature of both subject and object. This pixelation and degradation of the images, rendered in supercharged color, creates a contemporary take on post-impressionist and fauvist painting of the early 20th century.

For most of his practice, Gordon’s paper cutout objects have served as fundamental, yet ephemeral, elements in every work. More recently, however, Gordon’s objects have found life as sculptures in their own right. For example, the artist’s first ever public sculpture, Blue Poppies (2021), eternalizes one of his paper cutouts depicting a vase with flowers in a feat of painted stainless steel and aluminum, transforming quotidian materials into a permanent monument. As one walks around the sculpture, one sees that the armatures are exposed, a testament to not only Gordon’s hallmark wit, but also the significant involvement of the artist’s hand within his photography practice.
Gordon’s oeuvre is a labyrinth built from formalist notions of color, form, line, and composition. His photographs are comprised of disparate images that have been collapsed and recontextualized; modernist and classical references are remixed to bombastic effect, with plants and vessels repeated within the images to create spatial architecture for his imagined scenes. Exploring the theoretical traditions established by John Berger and Marshall McLuhan, Gordon challenges the false mystification of art historical titans such as Picasso and Matisse, all while celebrating the visual experience. Bringing together memento mori, portraiture, and still life, Gordon deftly synthesizes the history of image making. “It’s a fiction and a truth at the same time,” says Gordon, whose early Flying Pictures series (2001–2004) created whimsical illusions of the artist in mid-flight.

Gordon holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Yale School of Art, and he lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Recent solo exhibitions include: Night Pictures, James Fuentes, New York (2020); Hue and Saturate, Houston Center for Photography (2019); Blue Room, James Fuentes, New York (2018); Selective Color, M+B, Los Angeles (2017); New Canvas, James Fuentes, New York (2017); Hand, Select & Invert Layer, Zürich, Switzerland (2016); Shadows, Patterns, Pears, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2014); and Screen Selections and Still Lifes, Wallspace, New York, NY (2014).

He has participated in several museum exhibitions, including Cut! Paper Play in Contemporary Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2018); Secondhand, Pier 24, San Francisco, CA (2016); Greater New York, MoMA P.S. 1, Queens, NY (2010); and New Photography Series, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2009).

His work is included in prominent collections worldwide including Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Guggenheim, New York; Pier 24, San Francisco; Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the VandenBroek Foundation, Lisse, Netherlands.

Publications of the artist’s work include Houseplants (Aperture 2019), Spaces, Faces, Tables and Legs (OSP, 2018), Intermissions (OSP, 2017), Still Life with Onions and Mackerel (OSP, 2014), Still Lifes, Portraits, and Parts (Mörel, 2013), Flowers and Shadows (Onestar Press, 2011) and Flying Pictures (powerHouse Books, 2009).
About the Artist

Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon is known for photography and sculpture that employs appropriation and reproduction in order to question the nature of the image-object relationship. Melding optical illusion, pastiche, mixed media, and a recalibration of analog processes, Gordon consciously reframes what it means to have a photographic practice.

Gordon’s process begins with sourcing found imagery—such as of a vase or a plant—from the internet or by taking pictures with an iPhone. Gordon creates print-outs of these images, which he then cuts and pastes onto a three-dimensional structure that mimics the form and scale of the same vase or plant, thereby reconstructing the depicted object in paper. The resulting objects, albeit seemingly improvised and crudely constructed, are meticulously fabricated. Gordon then arranges these stand-ins into various tableaux, which he photographs from a single, frontal vantage point.

Gordon’s marriage of digital and analog processes results in chromatic, highly layered works that delight in both the obvious and the confounding elements of their creation. Seams and fault lines are left unhidden—a wry celebration of the artist’s hand that also acts to emphasize the material nature of both subject and object. This pixelation and degradation of the images, rendered in supercharged color, creates a contemporary take on post-impressionist and fauvist painting of the 20th century.
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