DANGEROUS

DANGEROUS, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
4 ft x 6 ft x 1.5 in

Signed on Back

ABOUT THE WORK

DANGEROUS is the namesake work from Tracy Piper’s 2025 self-led solo exhibition, which toured Portland and Miami.

One of the largest paintings Piper has created—and one of only a handful of horizontal works made across her fourteen-year practice—the painting depicts two figures intertwined in an embrace that becomes increasingly ambiguous the longer it is observed.

Are they holding one another, or holding on?

Created around the exhibition’s central declaration, “because loving yourself is revolutionary,” DANGEROUS explores the complicated boundary between intimacy and entanglement, devotion and self-preservation.

Piper’s understanding of the painting has continued to evolve since its creation. What initially appeared to be an image of two people embracing became a meditation on the things we hold onto long after they have stopped serving us—and on the possibility that our bodies sometimes understand what we need before our conscious minds do.

That evolving interpretation led Piper to place DANGEROUS at the center of her 2026 installation for Shifting Realities at Porsche Studio Portland. There, the work asks the viewer to turn the question inward:

What are you holding onto? And why?

DANGEROUS is a significant work within Piper’s practice, marking both the culmination of one chapter and the beginning of another.

Exhibition history
DANGEROUS, Solo Exhibition — Portland, 2025
DANGEROUS, Solo Exhibition — Miami, 2025
Shifting Realities, Porsche Studio Portland — 2026

HANGING & CARE

Artwork is ready to hang on the wall; hanging wire is secured on the back (nail and hook needed). Dust raw canvas with a clean, soft brush and HEPA-filtered vacuum to clean. Using a new, clean brush prevents transfer of grime from previous dustings.