Talk
Artist's Talk: Alexis Peskine - Power Figures
16 Sep 2017
October Gallery
London, United Kingdom
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Alexis Peskine, Shrine, 2016. Nails, moon gold leaf, mud, paint and varnish on samba wood, 250 x 250 x 50 cm. Courtesy October Gallery, London
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Alexis Peskine, Mandjacko Souls, 2017. Nails, gold leaf and tint on wood, 132 x 93 x 15 cm. Courtesy October Gallery, London.
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Alexis Peskine, Untitled, 2017. Moon gold leaf on nails, earth, coffee water and acrylic on wood, 240 x 250 cm. Image courtesy October Gallery, London.
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Alexis Peskine, Boy Dakar, 2016. Moon gold leaf, Nails, lacquer & varnish on Carriage (steel & wood), 240 x 120 cm. Courtesy October Gallery, London
Exhibition
Alexis Peskine: Power Figures
13 Sep 2017 – 21 Oct 2017
Event times
Tues-Sat - 12.30 - 17.30 pm
Cost of entry
Entry Free
Address
- 24 Old Gloucester Street
- London
- WC1N 3AL
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Tube: Holborn/Russell Square
Event map
October Gallery presents Alexis Peskine first solo exhibition in London. Growing up in Paris, Peskine’s practice focuses on the complexity of themes impacting people from the African Diaspora and explores, in particular, the Black Experience.
About
Peskine's signature pieces are large-scale portraits rendered by the painstaking process of hammering nails of different lengths and diameters, with pinpoint accuracy, into wood to create breathtaking composite images. The base of each work is made of wooden planks stained with coffee and earth giving a silhouette to each portrait. Then by embedding the differently sized nails at precisely controlled depths, Peskine creates a three-dimensional contouring to his images. Finally, gold and silver-leaf overlays colour the heads of the embedded nails, adding further subtle qualities to the intricately organised optical illusion. Metaphorically connecting the nail to the Black Experience, the figures he depicts portray strength, perseverance, self-possession, with an energy startlingly reminiscent of the power figures of the Congo.
Peskine obtained a BFA in Painting and Photography at Howard University, Washington, DC, an MA in Digital Arts at Maryland Institute College of Arts in Baltimore, and when awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, he continued at M.I.C.A to complete a further MFA Degree. He has participated in many international fairs and exhibitions, including the 3rd Black Arts World Festival and the Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal; Addis Foto Fest, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Frieze New York, Pulse Art Fair, New York, Miami Art Basel’s Prizm exhibit, Miami, USA; Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, Morocco; AKAA (Also Known As Africa) and Afriques Capitales, La Villette, Paris, France; and 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London UK.
