Paul Pfeiffer's Manipulated Media

Original Photo from Paul Pfeiffer: Always In Search of Visual Charge » FLUX (fluxhawaii.com)

    Thanks to many social media accounts and blogs that show off contemporary art, I have found the incredible work of Paul Pfeiffer. Born in Hawaii and growing up in the Philippines, Pfeiffer eventually moved to the United States and pursued art in New York in the 90s. His art spans multiple different medias, including video, photography, and sculpture. Most of his work involves the manipulation of footage from TV shows, videos, and broadcasted events of all kinds, which is what drew me into his work initially. His exhibit Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom was some of the first of his pieces I saw online, and I knew I had to explore more of his art. 

    This exhibit includes works of manipulated footage and sculpture primarily. The focus of the exhibit is about how much of life is turned into a spectacle and how identity is changed based on perception. Nearly every part of life is filmed and uploaded to the internet nowadays, even beyond the lives of celebrities and sports matches. I think Pfeiffer's art really exposes just how easy it is for truth to be altered based on how we see it in pictures and videos online. He also does a fantastic job of showing how making people a spectacle as a celebrity alters how we percieve them and how the celebrity themself views their identity. 

Original Photo from Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom • MOCA
Incarnator, 2021

    The first piece that struck me was this life-size, dissected figure of Justin Bieber titled Incarnator. Displayed floating away from the wall, various replicated body parts of Justin Bieber appear in full detail, mimicing the pose of a crucified Jesus. There are multiple torsos, arms, and heads that vary in detail and representation, but it is clear who Pfeiffer is depicting in this sculpture. In a video interview about the exhibit from The Museum of Contemporary Art, Pfeiffer discusses how he worked with traditional Santo makers, or religous figure makers, to create the form. He instructed them to do it as they normally would, creating the figure as if it were going to be a Jesus used in a religous ritual or ceremony. In making this detailed figure, Pfeiffer seems to be relating popular celebrities to religous figures in their identity or how they are treated by the public. Justin Bieber is probably recognizable to more American people than an image of Jesus would be, which might be why Pfeiffer chose him as the subject. In a way, he seems to be expressing the idea that celebrities are treated with similar respect, adoration, and honor that religious figures once were. It also begs the question of how Justin Bieber must feel to be in the spotlight all his life and treated as a "God" by fans. How does one separate that unconditional love from strangers from their own internal identity? Beyond the ideas Pfeiffer brings up with this piece, it is impressive just how much detail he and the Santos put into making the figure. It is almost unsettling to stare at this lifelike, recognizable, nude celebrity like it is a crucified Jesus. 

Original Photo from Paul PFEIFFER - Contemporary Art Exhibition (perrotin.com)
Caryatid, 2018

    In a different exhibit called Desiderata, Pfeiffer continues his exploration in the way media can be manipulated to manipulate an audience. In another interview I watched about the exhibit, Pfeiffer opens by saying that we often think of ourselves as separate from media, but we are the media. He believes that there is no longer any separation between the two, which is explored a lot in his art and is something I believe to be true. A favorite piece of mine are these three chrome television monitors that are each titled Caryatid. The mirrored chrome exterior means the entire monitor acts as a display for images, and the videos he has playing on each TV are various boxing matches with one of the opponents digitally removed. As you watch the screens, boxers are hit left and right by an invisible force that once was another recognizable boxer, and it changes the entire story being told by the boxing match. Boxing is a sport people enjoy watching because they like seeing a winner and loser arise from an intense, gruesome scene. Without one of the opponents, it becomes hard to understand who is who in the match and the focus appears to be put on the blows the visible opponent takes. To me, it's no longer a game of winning or losing that I'm watching, but rather a disturbing beating of someone who worked hard to be in that ring with another boxer. Pfeiffer says in the interview that the real medium he plays with is the perception of the viewer, trying to tap into people's psychology with his manipulaitions. I really love the way he goes about doing that, and I think he definitely succeeds in doing that with this piece alone. 

    Upon learning about Paul Pfeiffer's art, I enjoyed exploring all of his other works and hearing his inspiration behind each piece. I think one of the biggest reasons that I find his art so appealing is because more than any other contemporary artist I have seen, his work seems to connect most with the world today. With advancements in AI and the accessibility for people to be able to convincingly alter footage, photos, voices, faces and much more, his art shows just how significant that can be. He also shows the effects of everyday life becoming a spectacle people crave for through the way we percieve celebrities and the way they identify themselves. I highly recommend looking into more of his work, especially Cross Hall and Live From Neverland.