Jack Pierson and the Miami Muse: An In-Depth Investigation at the Bass Museum in Miami
The Bass Museum of Art is dedicating an extended season, from September 24, 2025, to August 16, 2026, to one of the cornerstones of the American visual imagination: Jack Pierson. The exhibition, titled The Miami Years, is an intimate and profound narrative that culminated on December 3rd with the exceptional event: the artist in conversation with renowned curator Klaus Biesenbach. The event was among the most discussed of Art Week, as reported by international publications such as the New York Times.
The institution entrusts its rooms with a narrative that follows the trajectories of an artist whose work combines photographs, sculptures, and installations.
The Key Figure: Jack Pierson
Jack Pierson American Artist - at the center of the exhibition "The Miami Years"
The Inquiry into Existence: Desire, Memory, and Fragility
Pierson's aesthetic touches on punk and advertising, collecting worn objects and abandoned signs. Desire, memory, loss, and time are the cornerstones of his stories. His work connects with a generation that includes names like Nan Goldin and David Armstrong, combining intimacy, queer everyday life, and bohemian culture.
Pierson also lived through the years of the AIDS crisis; the sense of fragility and impermanence of that period remains inscribed in his works, where waiting and escape take the form of constant mental states.
Example of a Pierson work using signage or found texts
The Birth of a Deep Bond with Miami
The exhibition explores Pierson's connection to Miami, which began during an initial visit in the winter of 1984. The city welcomed him with affordable living spaces and a vitality that counteracted the pressures of New York.
The collision of art, fashion, and celebrity made Miami an unexpected laboratory. The revival of Art Deco and the birth of Art Basel helped define an atmosphere suspended between splendor and anxiety.
The Heart of the Exhibition: The Emotional Map
The Miami Years finds a focal point in «ARRAY (MIAMI)», a monumental three-by-four-meter work commissioned by the Bass Museum.
Collage installation Jack Pierson Bass Museum
Posters, postcards, poems, and ephemeral materials enter into a close dialogue, where nostalgia filters into the details and transience emerges in the overlaps that compose an emotional map of the city.
The Legacy of Dialogue
The recent conversation with Klaus Biesenbach, attended by a large audience, offered a privileged insight into the creative forces that inform Pierson's evocative and multidisciplinary practice, strengthening the thread that unites the artist's imagination with the vitality of Miami.
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The exhibition Jack Pierson: The Miami Years will remain open until August 16, 2026. It is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a journey that has shaped the history of contemporary visual imagery.
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Jack Pierson's work continues to evolve! In the coming days, we'll be showcasing a new, exclusive piece by the artist.
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