Cristin Tierney Gallery is pleased to participate in the Dallas Art Fair. Visit us in booth D2 to see works by Diane Burko, Joe Fig, Malia Jensen, Debbi Kenote, Ryan McGinness, Maureen O'Leary, David Opdyke, Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos), and John Wood and Paul Harrison. The fair opens with a preview day on Thursday, April 10th, and continues through Sunday, April 13th.
Color and shape, texture and composition, and representation and appropriation dominate the paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works in our presentation in Dallas. Highlights include Sara Siestreem’s (Hanis Coos) painting foxes on the moon (2024). This artwork fuses hard-edge geometric patterns with collage elements and gestural paint handling, featuring a dynamic palette of black, white, yellow, mint, natural wood, and red. Importantly, the piece incorporates collaged lithographs and Xeroxed photo transfers of extinct Indigenous oyster shells, which recently surfaced from eroding middens adjacent to traditional village sites in the Coos Bay estuary. These ancient oyster beds and communities were irrevocably altered due to colonization that intensified in the 1800s. Siestreem’s thoughtful arrangement of the shells serves as both a memorial for cultural and ecological loss and a poignant commentary on the persistent colonial violence inflicted upon the land and its original inhabitants.
Building upon this notion of environmental fragility are Diane Burko’s paintings. They celebrate the beauty of our planet while critiquing the consequences of human activity. Driven by endless curiosity and an unwavering commitment to environmental preservation, Burko has spent five decades creating work about the realities of climate change. Her work offers a visual record of these investigations, drawing on visits to extreme environments worldwide—from the Arctic to the Amazon, coral reefs to deserts. Similarly, David Opdyke’s hand-modified vintage postcards delve into issues of environmental degradation and globalization by overlaying idyllic scenes with stark and often humorous depictions of pollution, consumption, and their consequences. His work invites viewers to reflect critically on the complex relationship between humanity and nature by juxtaposing nostalgic imagery with environmental and social concerns, prompting a re-evaluation of progress and its impact.
Malia Jensen’s bronze and ceramic sculptures offer an alternative perspective on nature, delving into themes of beauty, pleasure, connection, and vulnerability through animal symbolism. The first edition of Malia Jensen’s Rainbow Cats was created in 2003 as an invocation of complete joy; two wondrous elements combined in loving embrace. The seemingly lighthearted nine slip-cast colorful ceramic cats in Rainbow Cats embody Jensen’s signature combination of humor, beauty, and fine craft underpinned by a palpable sense of longing.
Meticulous craftsmanship continues with works by Joe Fig and Ryan McGinness, who both interrogate concepts of appropriation and figuration. Fig’s Contemplation series documents exhibitions he has attended, presenting near-verisimilitudes of the artworks and their viewers. His paintings are intricately detailed, not only in the featured art but also in the reflections on the floor and spectators’ introspective postures. McGinness's Warhol Flower Icons offer a homage to Andy Warhol’s pop aesthetic. Inspired by the artistic tradition of reinterpreting past masters, McGinness deconstructed Warhol's Flowers series and reconstructed it with his own rules and color palettes. Through extensive experimentation—including drawings and fifty test paintings—he developed a system for creating infinite variations while maintaining the original scale and number of flowers. His "flowers after flowers" approach offers a fresh take on Warhol's genius.
The gallery’s curated presentation brings environmental and emotional sensitivity to the fore. Comprising nine artists and collaborators from our program, these works invite viewers to reflect on our connections to the earth and each other.
