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Ian Pedigo

Diurne

October 21 - December 10, 2022

Opening Reception : October 21, 2022 6-8 pm

Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery is pleased to announce a solo show of Ian Pedigo’s recent sculptural wall collages. The title of the show, Diurne, references the cycles of the sun and light; things pertaining to qualities of the day, the rotation of the earth on its axis, and the measure of time. 

The show presents works featuring the shadows of trees, other flora, and fauna painted with black mineral pigments onto broken panels and laid over plaster and stucco slabs. Included in each image is a colored disk, representing a source of light and life –  like the ancient Egyptian sun disk Aten, a creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. This variety of images refers to the physical interaction of light and matter, as well as the ephemeral nature of our own material state. The painted fragments, echoing ancient frescoes, are made with materials used in present day decorative wall treatments. The dimensionality of these works entrenches multiple visual languages from collage to sculpture to montage upon their fractured substrates.

Pedigo’s work is inspired by esoteric and mystic subjects found in both ancient and contemporary thought. His interests range from classical works such as the Corpus Hermeticum and the writings of Plato, to more contemporary concepts such as Jane Bennett’s Thing Power, Graham Harman’s Object Oriented Ontology, or David Kellogg Lewis’ Modal Realism. In their own ways, each speaks of an unknown agency behind realities that exist independent of human consciousness. They assert these agencies as intelligible and effective presences operating in ontological realms hidden behind an imperceivable veil. 

The works in the show suggest a mystery beyond their thresholds, where transitions between darkness and shadow continuously rise and fall. The veil drops at an intersection where such entities encounter one another, and through a sympathetic exchange of shared qualities their reality transgresses over both sensible and rational boundaries.

Ian Pedigo (b. 1973 in Anchorage, Alaska) received an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. He has shown his work at Franklin Parrasch Gallery, Peter Blum, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Kristen Lorello Gallery in New York City; The Katzen Art Center, Washington, DC; NY; Super Dakota, Brussels, Belgium; Inman Gallery, Houston, TX; Galleri Roto, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; SAAG, Alberta, Canada; Ti. His work has been written about in Art in America, The New Yorker, Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, Chicago Tribune, Frieze Magazine, Art Review, The New York Times, ArtNews, Sculpture Magazine, and Hyperallergic. Pedigo is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Grant. His work is held in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.