Kris Pierce investigates the dynamic between our virtual and physical identities. He considers how basic emotional aspects of human experience, such as love, fear and sorrow, are presented through modes of communication and interaction through technology. More particularly he is interested in how individuals identify and position themselves through creative means as a type of reinvention, allowing them to exist as a different person in the digital realm. Perhaps this is the way they wish to be in real life? Is this an aspirational or dissociated behavior?

For his exhibition "Oil Can Tremolo," Pierce presents new multimedia works that explore virtual identity through a real-time gathering of sources from social media platforms including Twitter and TikTok. Concerned with how we project and perceive our own reality, Pierce reflects on the role of avatars in video games and also the trend of main character syndrome; a TikTok phenomenon where people imagine and act out scenarios playing the “main character” in a fictionalized version of their lives. Pierce’s works ask us to consider how aspects of self-assurance, confidence are understood in American culture, and how technology has the potential to transform healthy individualism into a type of harmful narcissism.

Alongside his multimedia works Pierce presents large paintings employing a retro-cartoon style reminiscent of American comic design from the 1950s and 60s. Portraying a range of business-men types, the artist invokes stereotype to draw attention to aspects of interpersonal communication; small signifiers that point to class, aspiration and social mobility. This glance back serves as a thoughtful reminder that identity is a social construct, regardless of how or when it is mediated.