Alexis Peskine and assistant at work gilding nail heads, October Gallery. Photo: © Jonathan Greet.<strong>Alexis Peskine</strong>, <em>Power</em>, 2017. Moon gold leaf on nails, earth, coffee, water and acrylic on wood, 195 x 250 cm.<strong>Alexis Peskine</strong>, <em>Aljana Moons III</em>, 2015. Giclée print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm paper, 83  x 150 cm. Ed. of 5.

ALEXIS PESKINE

Alexis Peskine.
Photo: © Thomas Babea, 2017.
Dee Haughney, Curator, October Gallery, in front of Alexis Peskine, The Architects of New Djenné, 2017. Moon gold leaf on nails, earth, coffee, water and acrylic on wood, 240 x 250 cm, installed at October Gallery.
Photo: © Jonathan Greet.


Alexis Peskine’s signature works are large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ of the African diaspora, which are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, with pin-point accuracy, into wood stained with coffee and mud. By applying gold leaf to the nails he creates breathtaking composite images. He depicts figures that portray strength and perseverance, with energy reminiscent of the spiritually charged Minkisi ‘power figures’ of the Congo Basin. He also produces striking photography and video works.

After a 2016 showing at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, Peskine had his first solo exhibition at October Gallery in 2017, with major exposure at international art fairs with the Gallery in the following years. Alongside this in 2016, Institut Francais, Dakar, Senegal held Raft of Medusa: Le retour de la vague, a solo exhibition of Peskine’s works. In 2018, his works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and Africa House’s Second Generation exhibition in New York.

He has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes including a Fulbright scholarship and Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition award. In the past decade, Peskine has worked with inner-city youth in France, Senegal and Brazil to create a number of monumental pieces, the largest of which was produced in France in 2012. Major museums and collectors including Peggy Cooper Cafritz; Laurence Graff OBE; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA; The Harvard Art Fogg Museum, Cambridge, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; and Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Chicago, USA, have collected Peskine’s works.

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View below for career highlights and works for sale by the artist.


 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS



 

SELECTED WORKS





 

MEDIA






 

ALEXIS PESKINE

Born in 1979, Paris, France. Lives and works in Paris, France and locations worldwide.
Selected solo exhibitions
2020   Alexis Peskine: Fire Figures, October Gallery, London, UK
2019   Atelier Aberto, ELA - Espaço Luanda Arte, Luanda, Angola
2017   Alexis Peskine: Power Figures, October Gallery, London, UK
2016   Raft of Medusa: Le Retour de la Vague, Galerie Le Manège, Institut Français, Dakar, Senegal
2015   Silent Stars, The Devon House Mansion, Kingston, Jamaica
2014   Aljana Moons, SLP Gallery, University of San Diego, California, USA
une galerie en chantier, des artistes qui partent en live, Galerie Véra Amsellem (re-named 5 Contemporary Art Gallery), Paris, France
2013   Tellement au-dessus de la France, Galerie BE Espace, Paris, France
2011   Alexis Peskine, Adam Studio, Paris, France
Alexis Peskine: International Identity, Zidoun- Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2010   Vibrant, Essie Green Gallery, New York, USA
2009   Alexis Peskine, exhibit coincided with Paris City
Council campaign against skin bleaching, 18th arrondissement City Hall, Paris, France
Négrifique!, Galerie Nordine Zidoun, Paris, France
2008   Alexis Peskine, Freedom Fried, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art (formally G.R. N’Namdi Gallery), Detroit, USA
2007   Paris Noir: Reflections From The Dark Side of the City of Light, Obsidian Arts Center, Minneapolis, USA
Cloué: Bound by History, Class and Color, Real Art Ways, Hartford, USA
The French Evolution, Race, Politics & the 2005 Riot, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), New York, USA
Life Still, Art core - NYC Gallery, New York, USA
Content & Characters, Harriet’s Alter Ego, New York, USA
2006   The French Evolution: The Work of Alexis Peskine, Busboys and Poets, Washington D.C., USA
Selected group exhibitions
2024   Transvangarde: Free Style Cipher, October Gallery, London, UK
2023   Transvangarde: Pushing Boundaries, October Gallery, London, UK
2022   In the Light: Photographic works by James Barnor, Benji Reid, Alexis Peskine and Zana Masombuka, October Gallery, London, UK
  Nomadic Resonance, October Gallery, London, UK
2021   1-54 Contemporary Art from Africa, Somerset House, London, with October Gallery, London, UK
Sorry, Neither, The Naughton Gallery, Queens, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Colours of My Dream, Fabienne Levy, Lausanne, Switzerland
2020   Atmospheres; Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, Online with October Gallery, London, UK
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa with October Gallery, London, UK 
2019   Life Through Extraordinary Mirrors, October Gallery, London, UK
Get Up, Stand Up Now, Somerset House, London, UK
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga and Alexis Peskine, VIU Eyewear, London, UK
Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
AKAA: Also Known as Africa, Contemporary art and design fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
Dream No Small Dream: Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
FLUP – Festa Literária das Periferias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
2018   In their Own Form, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
AKAA: Also Known as Africa, Contemporary art and design fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
ReSignifications, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo, Italy
1-54 Contemporary Art from Africa, Somerset House, London, with October Gallery, London, UK
EXPO Chicago, Chicago, USA with October Gallery, London, UK
Cry of Victory and Short Walks to Freedom, The Projects + Gallery and The Kranzberg Center for Arts, St Louis, USA
Black Signification, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Sicily, Italy 
2017   Transvangarde 2017, October Gallery, London, UK
Dandy Lion: (Re) Articulating Black Masculine Identity, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Miami, USA
AKAA: Also Known as Africa, Contemporary art and design fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
1-54 Contemporary Art from Africa, Somerset House, London, with October Gallery, London, UK 
Frieze New York, New York, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
Afriques Capitales, 100% Afriques, La Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France
2016   1:54 Contemporary Art from Africa with October Gallery, Somerset House, London, UK
Re-enchantements, Dak’Art Biennale, The Old Court House, Dakar, Senegal
Afrofuturism Short Films Program, Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit, USA
2015   Prizm Art Fair, Miami, USA
RITES, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, USA
2014   Ceremonies of Dark Men, Lincoln Theatre, Washington D.C., USA
RAW Material Company, Dakar, Senegal
Addis Foto Fest, National Museum of Et-a, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2nd International Biennale of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
Afrikadaa, Dakar Biennale, Biscuiterie de Medina, Dakar, Senegal
Noir & Blanc/Couleur, Musée de la Carte à Jouer, Paris, France
2012   Issy-les-Moulineaux Biennale, Paris, France
1st Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco Casablanca Biennale
2011   Dias Paris, Musée du Montparnasse Paris, France
2010   Modernitiés and Résistances/To the World’s Blows: Biscuiterie de Medina, Dakar, Senegal
2010 Fine Art, Cape Town; Johannesburg; Durban, South Africa
Permanent Collection, the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA
DD172 Gallery, New York, USA
Rencontres d’Arles : On the Roof, Arena Corner, Arles, France
Alexis Peskine & John Waxxx, Ooh La La Gallery & Lounge, Paris, France
2009   Untitled (group photo exhibition), Galerie Intemporel, Paris, France
2008   Transformers, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA
Politique, Musique, Témoignages, Débats, Agapes, Beaux-Arts for Fulbright’s 60th Anniversary, Réfectoire des Cordeliers, Paris, France
National Black Fine Art Show, New York, USA touring to: Galerie Intemporel, Paris, France; Galerie Bourbon-Lally, Haiti
Garveyism, Rush Arts, New York, USA
2007   Martin Luther King Jr; Life, Times and Legacy, The Amistad Center, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, USA
2005   Intro Spective, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA
2004   Masters of Arts in Digital Arts Thesis Show: Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA
Black: The Race, The Culture, The Class, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA
2003   National Black Fine Art Show, New York, USA Kenkeleba House, New York, USA
Awards
2007   Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition
2004   Fulbright Scholarship, The Franco-American Exchange Commission
2003   Betti Robinson Leadership Scholarship
2002   Verizon HBCU Student Art Competition

OCTOBER GALLERY ARTISTS