Dan Perjovschi: Now & Then

Jane Lombard Gallery is pleased to present Now & Then, a solo exhibition of new and existing works by gallery artist Dan Perjovschi. For his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery, Perjovschi revisits his hallmark in-situ drawings and graphic notations, offering sharp, satirical assertions on contemporary politics and social movements. In dialogue with new works on paper, the gallery will display Perjovschi’s 1994 series, Postcards from America, thirty years after their debut. Playful and speculative, Perjovschi’s perspective depicts his observations of America as personal adventures. 

Dan Perjovschi uses drawings, wordplay and site-specific installations to portray current events. His works conduct a humorous and sharp critique of international media and government players. Through rapidly executed sketchbook images and text, the artist transforms the gallery into a space of relatable frustrations with socio-political conditions. Revisiting his seminal work, Postcards from America (1994), the gallery will display the series of 500 ink and graphite paper drawings created during Perjovschi’s first trip to the United States. Perjovschi once said of the series: "Postcards from America is a happy testimony of a trip I made cross-country as part of a USIA grant, which allowed me to travel east, west, north, and south, to big cities, middle-of-nowhere towns, and coast to coast from New York to Topanga Canyon and from San Francisco to New Orleans. It was fantastic. My first encounter with the enormity and diversity of America was like a kid's adventure book. I was seduced by America, so I called the series Postcards.”

Rectangles of black paint will be delineated, upon which Perjovschi will spontaneously create witty and incisive chalk drawings that reflect current civic and social events, such as the 2024 US Presidential election. This will be juxtaposed against old and new drawings that point to the state of America. The comparison between his old and existing works also speaks to the optimism of the 1990s that feels starkly absent in the 2020s. Both framed and unframed and of varying sizes, Perjovschi refers to these three walls as his “drawings bonanza.”

Maintaining an ephemeral foundation, Perjovschi does not ignore the inherent contradictions of the socioeconomic privileged arena where his work can be found. To violence, opulence and extremism, he responds with puns, laughter and ridicule as the protection of freedom. Thirty years after the first Postcards were made, the work feels just as pertinent. Supplementing the exhibition will be a tote bag for purchase, produced by the gallery and upon which is printed a text-based drawing by Perjovschi. Proceeds from the sale of the tote bags will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).