Jack Pierson and Kunle Martins

Pee Party curated by Blair Hansen

March 3 - April 21, 2019

Dear Viewer,

There is a certain quality of knowing happiness upon hearing the news that two people you’ve known for a long time - and liked very much! - have coupled. You momentarily consider that you, or someone else who is familiar with all parties, could have or should have introduced the two men earlier. Perhaps that is a desire to take credit, which is meaningless when you think about it. But anyway, we didn’t think of it until they had already figured it out. And now it just makes sense like a baby’s name becoming a name that eventually typifies that human being. We always want to say, “See? That was my idea.” But it doesn’t matter at all whose idea it was – only that it has happened and that it is joyous and fruitful just for having manifested.

Another layer, of course, is that Jack and Kunle are both artists. Oh, when artists couple with artists! Magical! Emotive! Volatile! Alive! Yikes! And here, not only do they both make art, they both make art that concerns itself with romantic love and identity and loss and sex and longing and sadness and relief in connecting on aforementioned thematic points.

Kunle and Jack both got going in the comfort of groups – gangs, really. Jack came on the scene with his “Boston School” cohort, which included Mark Morrisroe, Nan Goldin and Philip-Lorca diCorcia (wave to him, he is having a show at the Chinatown mall across the street, at Tramps Gallery, right now – what are the odds?). Kunle ran away from home at age 16 and hitched up with other young gentlemen (the artist Dash Snow among them) to form the IRAK graffiti crew in New York City. (There will be a big show of Dash's work at the end of March, too – just up the road on Houston Street at Participant Inc, so go see it.) Banding together is important, especially when we’re young and still forming. The unconditional intimacy of youthful friendships helps us relax, shake some of our self-consciousness, and tap the life-force like only young people can when the stars align. And when these friendships are grounded in creativity, watch OUT, because there’s going to be some real material emerging from that energetic space. Kunle always stood out, though, no matter what, because he is so enormously beautiful and masculine and queer and black. Jack, too, I mean, he’s white, but he is built like a brick shithouse with that unpretentious moxie you get from growing up in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (where I’m from, too). Kunle’s and Jack’s bodies together! Oh my god, imagine.

Of course, when we’re looking at or thinking about art, we can get carried away. We can stop asking what is authentic or real or pretense or device, because it’s all unfolding inside of our own minds, processing through our own fantasies and biases. That’s why it doesn’t really do any good to wonder about the artist’s intentions. We should worry more about our own intentions.

If there’s a narrative here, much less one with a moral at the end, I think it’s about the importance of hanging in there and keeping ourselves open in life. Connections are waiting for us, friends. If we stay open, stay engaged, and stay positive, we can fuse ourselves to one another in a glorious upheaval of the ego, with all its endless mirages throwing us off the scent of love. Love is all around us, and we can experience it.

Yours,

Blair

2-24-19

*This exhibition is curated by Blair Hansen

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Jeffrey Stark

88 East Broadway
Space B11
New York, NY 10002

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