Mark McKnight + Paul Pescador Shadow and Shadow of Shadow Opening Reception January 26, 7-10 pm Dates: January 26- February 23 Roger’s Office presents an exhibition of works by Mark McKnight and Paul Pescador in which the artists reciprocally employ one another as the subject of their work in order to investigate their relationship not only to each other but also their respective creative practices. By producing his characteristic analog black and white photographs, McKnight offers a series of intimate portraits designed to lay bare the cartoonish construct that has been self-fashioned by Pescador via his films and photographs over the years. Utilizing Pescador’s studio materials, mannequin heads and bodies, McKnight employs Pescador two-fold: as self portrait proxy and unmasked, introspective artist in his own right. The photographs are as much a construction as they are the result of shared experience and homo-social intimacy. Looking to Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow Up, Pescador has produced a new film titled The Photographer that caricatures the prototypical “working photographer” in Hollywood film. By dressing McKnight, the film’s solitary actor, in a clownish mask, Pescador produces a dream-like film that re-purposes the “photographer” archetype turning him simultaneously into an absurd protagonist and red herring for a film that highlights the banality both of the artist’s working process and an everyday Los Angeles. Shot within the Los Angeles River, Arroyo Seco and its surrounding Northeast Los Angeles neighborhoods, McKnight’s character becomes a witness to the ebb and flow of a city in flux. Mark McKnight (b. Los Angeles, 1984) is an L.A. based artist whose work has been exhibited and published throughout the United States and in Europe. His work has been the subject of solo and group exhibition at James Harris, Seattle, 2018; Queens Los Angeles, 2018; Gallery Luisotti, Los Angeles, 2018; Park View/Paul Soto, Los Angeles, 2017; M+B, Los Angeles, 2015; The Pit, Glendale, 2015; Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, 2013; Riverside Art Museum, 2013; Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, 2010; San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, 2009; as part of the New York Photo Festival, 2008 and in “20/20: An International Photography Biennial”, Switzerland, 2015. In 2009, he traveled to Finland on a Fulbright Scholarship. He holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute (2007) and an MFA from the University of California, Riverside (2015). He is a 2019 Light Work Artist in Residence. Paul Pescador is an artist, filmmaker, performer and writer discussing social interactions and intimacy as they pertain to his own personal identity and history. He graduated with an MFA from University of California, Irvine and a BA from University of Southern California. Select exhibitions and screenings include: The Main Museum, Los Angeles; The Pit, Glendale; 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica; 5 Car Garage, Santa Monica; Coastal/Borders, Getty Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA at Angels Gate Cultural Center; LAND at The Gamble House, Pasadena; Vacancy, Los Angeles; Ashes/Ashes, Los Angeles; Park View, Los Angeles; and Human Resources, Los Angeles. Select performances include: Machine Projects, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Contemporary Archives; Performa 2015; Colony, New York; UC Berkeley: Durham Studio Theater; PAM, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, with KCHUNG TV, Los Angeles; REDCAT, Los Angeles; Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University, Los Angeles; and ForYourArt, Los Angeles.