Daniel Gordon b. 1980

Daniel Gordon is known for photography and sculpture that employ 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. 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.

Beginning with found imagery sourced from the internet and his camera roll, Gordon reconstructs the three-dimensional form and scale of objects using cut-and-pasted printouts of the objects themselves. The resulting paper objects are then meticulously fabricated to be arranged into various tableaux, which the artist then 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. Bringing together memento mori, portraiture, and still life, Gordon deftly synthesizes the history of image making.

Daniel Gordon (b. 1980, Boston, MA, Raised in San Francisco, CA; Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Yale School of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include: Free Transform, Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY; 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, Bolte Lang, Zürich (2016), Switzerland; 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 group 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) New Photography Series, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2009).

He is the author of 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). Gordon’s work has also been highlighted in several international publications including: The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art Review, Frieze, Architectural Digest, New York Magazine, W Magazine, Art in America, Modern Painters, PHOTONEWS, Dazed & Confused, Art in America, and Flash Art. His work resides in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Guggenheim, New York, Pier 24, San Francisco, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, and the VandenBroek Foundation, Lisse, NL.