A History – Tarrah Krajnak and Ryan Pierce
A History – Tarrah Krajnak and Ryan Pierce
March 1-17, 2024
510 Oak St, Eugene, OR 97403
Reception: Friday, March 1 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Gallery hours: Friday- Sunday from 12:00- 4:00 p.m.
This exhibition examines our relationships with, criticism of, and building upon the legacy of fore-thinkers of environmentalism and the oft-cited canonical artists engaged in depicting landscapes in the West.
A History is part of the exhibition series Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, organized by curators-in-residence Ashley Stull Meyers and Aurora Tang and made possible by the University of Oregon Department of Art’s Center for Art Research and the Ford Family Foundation.
Tarrah Krajnak
Tarrah Krajnak is an artist working across photography, performance, and poetry. She was born in Lima, Peru in 1979, and currently lives in Eugene, Oregon. Krajnak is represented by Zander Galerie, Cologne. She was awarded the Jury Prize of the Louis Roederer Discovery Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles, the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, Center for Documentary Studies, and the Lewis Baltz Award, Le Bal, Paris. Her book El Jardín De Senderos Que Se Bifurcan (DAIS 2021) was shortlisted for Aperture’s First Book Award. She has since published Master Rituals II: Weston’s Nudes (TBW 2022) and RePose (FW Books 2023). Krajnak’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Pinault Collection, Paris, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, among others. Her solo exhibition Shadowings is now open at the Huis Marseille, Museum of Photography, Amsterdam, through March 2024.
Image 1: Elbow Rock/Rock That Pierces, from Automatic Rocks/Excavation, 20×24 Silver Gelatin Print, 2022, Courtesy the Artist and Zander Galerie.
Image 2: Portrait of the Artist, couretsy of the artist.
Ryan Pierce
Ryan Pierce‘s paintings, prints, and experimental artist books envision a world recovering from human industry amid the throes of climate chaos. He draws on influences from ecological theory, literature, and folk art to create scenes that portray the resilience of the natural world. He has exhibited internationally and his work has been recognized by fellowships from the Joan Mitchell and San Francisco Foundations and the Oregon Arts Commission. In 2019, his work was showcased in the Portland Art Museum’s inaugural triennial of Northwest Art, titled the map is not the territory… He is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland. From 2009-19, Pierce led nearly 500 artists and writers on backcountry retreats through Signal Fire, a group he co-founded to unite artists and activists in the remaining public wildlands of the American West. He currently leads the low-residency MFA in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.
Image 1: Flash Flood, 2020, flashe and spray paint on canvas over panel, 72 x 96 inches.
Image 2: Portrait of the artist, photo credit: Aaron Johanson.
