PIERMARQ* is pleased to present: If Hollywood Don’t Need Us, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artists, Preston Daniels and Jeremy Shockley.
A narrow hallway separates Daniels and Shockley’s studios, with doors facing each other in proximity that hardly requires a raised voice for the audible exchange of ideas. In the yard, chickens roost in their coop and you can almost tune out the LA traffic. Back inside, weathered sofas, a rainbow of paint tubes, and an endless supply of brushes and tools create a joyful, homely atmosphere. The energy is palpable and genuine due to Daniels and Shockley’s friendship, where even their paintings exchange a recognizable dialogue through vibrant colours, buoyancy and nods to art history, reminiscent of how anthropologists identify close social bonds through similarities in speech patterns.
LA has a rich history of artist friends, such as Ed Ruscha & Joe Goode, and Richard Jackson & Bruce Nauman, and now is no different. Daniels and Shockley have navigated the journey from childhood in the rural south, to working with some of the most significant contemporary artists in Los Angeles, to a shared residency overseas, and onto exhibitions at international galleries. Their shared history has no doubt included a colorful cast of characters and the full spectrum of the art world’s grit and glamor. Referencing Don Williams’ 1982 country song, the exhibition’s title lends to the concept that regardless of big city dreams and achievements, enduring kinship is always at the core.
Preston Daniels (b. 1983) is a sculptor and painter. His work merges atmospheric light and text with reference to surrealism and romanticism. Daniels’ barren hallucinations of words, wrinkles and landscapes draw inspiration from the grand, lush embellishments of the Hudson River School.
Jeremy Shockley’s (b. 1982) paintings alter landscapes using the techniques of trompe-l'œil to create the optical illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Influenced by magical realism in literature, his style of painting adds humor and magical elements into mundane situations in a matter-of-fact way, playfully tricking the viewer's perception of space.
