id: 154813 accession number: 1989.395 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.395 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:38.820000 Untitled (Melissa's Hand and Thorns), 1988. Christopher Pekoc (American, 1941-). Gelatin silver print, gold foil, paper, and thread; image: 66.1 x 63.8 cm (26 x 25 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Herbert Ascherman, Jr., May Show Purchase Award for Photography, 1990 1989.395 © 1988 C. Pekoc title: Untitled (Melissa's Hand and Thorns) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1988 creation date earliest: 1988 creation date latest: 1988 current location: creditline: Herbert Ascherman, Jr., May Show Purchase Award for Photography, 1990 copyright: © 1988 C. Pekoc --- culture: America, 20th century technique: gelatin silver print, gold foil, paper, and thread department: Photography collection: PH - American 1951-Present type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Christopher Pekoc (American, 1941-) - artist Christopher Pekoc American, 1941- Trained as a painter at Kent State University (1968-70), Cleveland-born Christopher Pekoc has worked extensively with mixed-media collage since 1987. To create his works Pekoc combines photogenerated imagery, often fragments of body parts and menacing objects such as thorns, spikes, and severed wings, with paint, glue, shellac, and other materials. In 1992 he was one of 11 Cleveland artists invited to participate in a poster project sponsored by the Cleveland Health Issues Task Force, Ohio's oldest aids organization. Working from the insights of Jim Kilonsky, one of his former students who was hiv positive, Pekoc fabricated his commission using as a central motif the hand-as a symbol of creation, compassion, and healing. Pekoc has had one-person exhibitions at the Akron Art Institute (1978), Kenyon College (1986), and the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art (1991), and has been awarded fellowships by the Ohio Arts Council (1990, 1994). He lives in Cleveland, teaching painting at Case Western Reserve University. A.W.
Biographical information exists in the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. --- measurements: Image: 66.1 x 63.8 cm (26 x 25 1/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Scratched on verso: "© / C. Pekoc / 1.9.8.8"; written in black marker on verso of mount: "Artist: Christopher Pekoc / (216) 751-0873 / Title: Untitled (Melissa's Hand and Thorns) / Size (Image) 26" H x 25 1/8" W / Size (Frame) 33 1/4" H x 32 1/4" W / Medium: Photographs, coated cover stock paper, metal foil paper, thread" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The May Show: 70th Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists and Craftsmen of the Western Reserve opening date: 1989-06-28T04:00:00 The May Show: 70th Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists and Craftsmen of the Western Reserve. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 28-August 6, 1989). title: The Year in Review for 1989 opening date: 1990-02-06T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990). title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, Feb. 6 - April 15, 1990: "Year in Review 1989," CMA Bulletin, 77 (Feb. 1990), p. 68, no. 48.
Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, 1991: "Christopher Pekoc: New Works," no exhibition catalogue.
CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art." --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: A draftsman and painter, Christopher Pekoc has been making collages since 1988. Photographs from his large inventory of images are cut, folded, scratched, drawn on, and perforated. Using a sewing machine, he stitches these together with materials such as coated paper, foil, and color photocopies. Many of the photographs Pekoc incorporates into his collages depict friends and acquaintances whose physical appearances intrigue him. In this mysterious, psychologically charged work, the artist uses images of thorns and a cut-and-sewn photograph of a solitary arm and hand (a favorite motif) to suggest human vulnerability. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Christopher Pekoc Entry Card to 1989 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMS18025 Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 267 url: Grove, Jeffrey, "From Neoclassical to The NEO Show", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 45 no. 01, January 2005 page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-01/page/8 --- IMAGES