Daniel Cooney Fine Art
1600 Lena Street, #F5
Santa Fe, NM 87505
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DUO: JASON BYRON GAVANN & JACK PIERSON
Exhibition Dates: November 6 – December 19, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, November 6, 5-7pm
Both artists will be present for the opening reception.
Daniel Cooney Fine Art is pleased to present Duo: Jason Byron Gavann & Jack Pierson, an exhibition bringing together two acclaimed artists whose friendship spans nearly five decades. More than a presentation of two distinctive artistic practices, the exhibition offers an opportunity to consider the relationship between friendship, artistic influence, and the cultural communities that shape an artist’s vision. Through a selection of portrait photographs, Duo reveals the connections, contrasts, and shared experiences that have informed the work of two artists who have remained friends and enthusiastic admirers of one another throughout their careers.
Gavann and Pierson met in Boston in the early 1980s, when Gavann was an emerging artist and Pierson was a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Both became associated with the influential circle of artists known as the Boston School, a loosely connected community whose work explored identity, desire, intimacy, and the complexities of lived experience. During these formative years, Gavann introduced Pierson to Boston’s LGBTQ+ social scene, including the bars and gathering places that served as important centers of connection and community. These encounters offered Pierson an introduction to a world in which personal identity, artistic expression, and the experience of belonging were deeply intertwined.
Their friendship developed during a formative period when both artists were establishing their individual voices. Although their practices would follow distinct trajectories, their early encounters and shared experiences helped shape the perspectives they brought to their work. Each recognized something compelling in the other’s vision, establishing a relationship founded not only on mutual respect but also on a lasting appreciation for each other’s artistic achievements. Nearly fifty years later, their friendship remains an enduring source of connection, grounded in a shared history and a continuing enthusiasm for one another’s work.
Portraiture provides the common ground for this exhibition, bringing two independent approaches to photography into dialogue. Gavann presents both vintage black-and-white and color photographs, exploring the expressive possibilities of each. The interplay between these two photographic languages offers varied tonal and emotional registers through which to consider the presence of the individual subject. Pierson’s contemporary portraits take a different approach, combining color and black-and-white imagery within the same photographs. This distinctive juxtaposition creates a layered visual experience, inviting viewers to consider the relationships between contrasting modes of representation within a single image.
Seen together, the photographs reveal both affinities and differences in the artists’ sensibilities. Their approaches remain distinctly their own, yet the works share a compelling interest in portraiture and the expressive possibilities of the photographic image. The contrast between Gavann’s use of color and black and white across his photographs and Pierson’s combination of both within individual images establishes a visual conversation that echoes the longer dialogue between the artists themselves.
The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to consider artistic influence not as a direct exchange of styles, but as something more complex and enduring: a relationship shaped by shared experiences, mutual observation, and the freedom to pursue independent visions. Their early connection in Boston, formed within a vibrant LGBTQ+ cultural community, remains an important part of their shared history. Over the decades, that initial bond has evolved into a lasting friendship in which admiration for the other’s work has endured alongside their individual artistic achievements.
The title Duo speaks to this relationship without diminishing the individuality of either artist. It acknowledges the productive space between two distinct visions, the points at which they converge, and the differences that make their work compelling. At its heart, the exhibition celebrates the enduring importance of artistic community and the ways in which friendships formed early in life can continue to resonate through a lifetime of creative work.
With Duo: Jason Byron Gavann & Jack Pierson, Daniel Cooney Fine Art brings together two singular artistic voices whose paths first crossed in Boston nearly fifty years ago. Their photographs offer viewers the opportunity to experience two independent approaches to portraiture while reflecting on the lasting influence of friendship, shared history, and mutual admiration.