Marc HUNDLEY
Pansies (for Bill), 2023
Acrylic on canvas
Unframed: 172.72 × 203.20 cm (68 × 80 in)
Framed: 176.53 × 207.01 × 5.08 cm
(69 ½ × 81 ½ × 2 inches)

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"This image is the illustration for 'pansy' in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language. 'Slang. A male homosexual. Used as a term of contempt' is part of the description. Bill Van Meter is a writer and friend of mine from the mid 90’s. He hosted a party at his apartment in Williamsburg at 138 Broadway on December 29, 2022, his birthday. After asking how the rest of the party went after I’d left, he said it “got wild,” and he said it was his best birthday, which inspired me to make this piece for him. He’s gay and has a great sense of humor and I thought he would think this a funny portrait of his birthday."

~ Marc HUNDLEY, 2024

Marc HUNDLEY
Pansies (for Bill), 2023
Acrylic on canvas
Unframed: 172.72 × 203.20 cm (68 × 80 in)
Framed: 176.53 × 207.01 × 5.08 cm
(69 ½ × 81 ½ × 2 inches)

Photography courtesy of CANADA, New York and the artist.

Marc HUNDLEY (b. 1971) was born in Toronto and lives and works in New York, NY. HUNDLEY moved to New York in 1993 to work as a model. Toward the end of the decade, he began making T-shirts and photocopies for friends in the downtown club and music scenes—an early example being a shirt stenciled with the words “I’m so bored with the USA,” a reference to lyrics penned by the Clash. His work has been exhibited at The Jewish Museum, New York; Serpentine Galleries, London; White Columns, New York; Printed Matter, Inc., New York; Ratio 3, San Francisco; The Modern Institute, Glasgow; CANADA, New York; Team Gallery, New York; Herald St, London; and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, among others. His work is held in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

HUNDLEY brings an unpretentious approach to a variety of media—xeroxed posters, T-shirts, furniture, and assorted forms of ephemera. Mining the resonances of memory, loneliness, and longing, his works often center on found texts and images drawn from favorite songs, poems, and works of literature. Using an analog paste-up method, HUNDLEY employs photocopies to conjure up loves lost, time passed, and emotions spent. Overall, HUNDLEY’s work models a method of gentle care and attention, not only toward works of art but also the small, informal moments that make up our lives. 

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