Artist's Talk: Alexis Peskine - Power Figures

In conjunction with his first solo exhibition in the UK, Power Figures, held at October Gallery from 13th September - 21st October 2017, Alexis Peskine will give an Artist's Talk on Saturday 16th September, 2017. The artist will speak about his work, ideas and processes.

Peskine’s work focuses on the complexity of themes impacting people from the African Diaspora. His signature pieces are large-scale portraits rendered by the painstaking process of hammering nails of different lengths and diameters, with pin-point 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-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 and self-possession, with an energy startlingly reminiscent of the power figures of the Congo.

Alexis Peskine works in Paris and Dakar. He 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.