Dan Yoshii is pleased to present Circus Maximus, Los Angeles-based artist Julian Pace’s first exhibition with the gallery. Bringing together paintings of various scales and some of the smallest works on paper the artist has ever created, Circus Maximus is an extension of Pace’s practice revolving around iconography, pop culture, and sports.
In this new body of work, Pace broadens his visual language and oeuvre beyond depicting monumental subjects in monumental scale, and experiments with how to fit large egos and presences on intimate surfaces. Pace, a self-taught artist who spent his formative years growing up in Florence, naturally takes cue from the great Italian Renaissance artists of the past. Emphasizing the importance of drawing as a foundation for his work, Pace often starts with sketching in his Moleskine sketchbook, carving out compositional and textural aspects before translating them onto the canvas with bold blocks of colors and vivid lines. Circus Maximus grants the viewer access to the inner working of Pace's mind and process by showcasing works on paper like Harlem Wilt alongside its oil on canvas counterpart, Harlem Globetrotter.
As the title of the exhibition suggests, Pace’s stylized approach to pop culture icons echoes the absurdity of celebrity worship in an almost iconoclast manner, portraying athletes and objects with a cult following in exaggerated ways. He leans into the absurdity of the cultural phenomena of fanaticism and mass media culture that can often extend to levels of apotheosis by making the figures fully fill the confines of the canvas and paper, enlarging their shoulders, torso, and hands beyond imagination. In Circus Maximus, Pace goes further and begins to explore the relationship between time and stardom, portraying nostalgic household names like Patrick Ewing alongside contemporary sensations like Alysa Liu.
Even when depicting objects, Pace focuses on loud and dynamic contemporary motifs instead of everyday or traditional objects that many artists look to. From monster trucks to race cars, and Kermit the Frog to a Labubu, he places a spotlight on symbols of the mainstream, commercial, and mass culture. Pace’s interest in corporate branding and sponsorship in sports is also apparent in works like Red Ferrari Schumacher and Breakfast Car. His work also carries the sentiment of Americana through stylistic representations of sports memorabilia like Koufax Glove, and all-American sports figures Martha Josey and John Daly.
Julian Pace’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach; Fabien Fryns, Dubai; Spazio Amanita, New York; Simchowitz, Los Angeles; The Cabin, Los Angeles; and The Pit, Los Angeles.
