Known for his highly sophisticated use of digital technologies and new media, Paul Pfeiffer (b. 1966, Honolulu, HI) has created celebrated works of video, photography, installation and sculpture since the late 1990s. Editing iconic images or found footage of sporting events, concerts, or Hollywood films, Pfeiffer explores our culture’s obsession with spectacle to uncover its hidden psychological cost.
A critically-acclaimed retrospective of Pfeiffer’s work entitled Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom recently traveled from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where it will remain on view through August 31, 2025. Previous one-person exhibitions were presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2001); the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2003); the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2005); MUSAC León, Spain (2008); the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2009); Sammlung Goetz, Munich (2011); Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu (2016); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2017). Pfeiffer’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Inhotim Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Brazil; the Pinault Collection, Venice; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; K21, Dusseldorf; Julia Stoscheck Foundation, Dusseldorf and Berlin; and Pinothek der Moderne and, Sammlung Goetz, Munich, among others.
Paul Pfeiffer, Caryatid, 2008; three channel digital video loop, three custom 32 inch monitors with embedded media players; overall: 21 x 25 x 96 in. (243.8 x 53.3 x 63.5 cm); running time: 45 seconds each loop (synched); Edition of 3, 2AP
Paul Pfeiffer
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (17), 2004-2018
c-print 72 x 57 5/8 in. (182.9 x 146.4 cm)
Edition 1 of 3, + 2APs
Paul Pfeiffer
Red Green Blue, 2022
single channel video with surround sound
Paul Pfeiffer
Three Figures In A Room, 2015-16
two synced video channels on two projectors, four synced audio channels, Mac Minis
dimensions variable 48 minutes, looped
Edition of 3, 1 AP
Paul Pfeiffer
Desiderata (Big Wheel), 2019
digital video loops, fabricated aluminum monitor with two embedded media players
4 5/16 x 13 3/8 x 4 3/4 in (11 x 34 x 12 cm)
running time: 1 minute 30 seconds
Edition 1 of 3, 1 AP
Paul Pfeiffer
John 3:16, 2000
digital video loop, metal armature, LCD monitor, DVD player
monitor: 5 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 36 in. (14 x 16.5 x 91.4 cm); video loop: 2:07, Edition of 3, 2 APs
Paul Pfeiffer
Playroom, 2012
steel, glass one-way mirror, wood, MDF, fabric, upholstery, and lights
62 1/4 x 72 x 30 in. (158.1 x 182.9 x 76.2 cm), Edition of 2, 1 AP
Paul Pfeiffer
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (11), 2004
Fujiflex digital C-print, frame: 56 x 68 x 3 in. (142.2 x 172.7 x 7.6 cm)
Edition of 6, 1 AP
Paul Pfeiffer
Caryatid (Mosley), 2017
digital video loop
chromed 12-inch color television with embedded media player
9 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (24.1 x 26.7 x 36.8 cm)
Paul Pfeiffer
Façade Projection: Paul Pfeiffer: Morning After the Deluge, Installation view, Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, February 11 – 25, 2021. Photo: Robert Barker Photography, courtesy of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University.
Paul Pfeiffer
Study for Jerusalem (3), 2006
3 video loops,1 audio loop, 3 projectors, sound system, wood structure
dimensions variable
Paul Pfeiffer
Live from Neverland, 2006
two channel digital video loop, single channel audio loop, projector, monitor, speakers
27 in. (68.6 cm) x 10 x 7 1/2 feet (304.8 x 228.6 cm)
video loop: 10:18, Edition of 3, 1 AP
