EXPO CHICAGO | Booth 443
25 April – 27 May 2025
VIP day Thursday 24th April, 2025
VIP day Thursday 24th April, 2025
Giclée print on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta 325 gsm paper, 84 x 56 cm, 97 x 69 cm (framed).
Aluminium and copper wire, 305 x 265 cm.
Highlights include works by Alexis Peskine from his recent series Forest Figures. Building on his heritage and personal experiences, Peskine’s new works delve into the rich, healing powers inherent in ancestral African spirituality. Within these pieces, he explores deeper aspects of interiorised abundance and wellbeing found amongst the individual figures he portrays to represent the diversity of the African diaspora. Peskine draws upon attributes and aspects of the Orishas – or spirits – which act as a conceptual framework underpinning these recent works. These large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, embellished with gold, Japanese oxidised silver or palladium leaf, with pin-point accuracy, into wood to create breath-taking composite images. Also presented by the artist are earlier works, such as Azul, 2023, which include the use of nails, Japanese blue oxidised silver leaf, paint, white hibiscus and indigo. Peskine knowingly applies a rich profusion of overlain colours and materials to create a complex visual narrative charged with the echoes of centuries of exploitation.
South African artist, Zana Masombuka explores the intersections of culture and identity in her ever-evolving practice. Her first presentation in Chicago focuses on her signature photographic works, Nges’rhodlweni: A Portal for Black Joy refers to a space within the Ndebelehouseholdwhere people of all ages gather to share in the communion of art, and to create an expression for the entire community. In this series, Masombuka imagines what happens in the spirit world when ceremonies and rituals take place, creating a body of images which are rich with layers of meaning, symbolism, and have a captivating aesthetic. The overarching themes in her work investigate the intersections of age-old human experience with the modern world and how modernity impacts tradition and culture.
Striking paintings by Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga explore the seismic shifts in the economic, political and social identity of the Democratic Republic of Congo, that have taken place since colonialism. Today DRC is the world’s largest exporter of coltan, a raw material used in mobile phones, computer chips and mother boards, the latter being depicted across the skin of the subjects of his work. The paintings portray the cost in human life that our incessant demands for modern technology impose upon the unseen victims caught up in the consequences of industrial scale mining. This year, October Gallery held a solo exhibition by Kamuanga entitled Nature Morte which examined the consequences of the toxic waste-matter that is poisoning the environment upon which local Congolese communities depend. His work is currently exhibited as part of Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power, at the Louvre, Abu Dhabi.
El Anatsui’s sculptural experiments with media and form have challenged the definition of sculpture itself. His metal wall installations have received international acclaim and the gallery’s presentation includes Profile, 2023, an intricate and vibrant bottle-top work. In 2024, Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) and Tate Modern announced the inaugural global tour of El Anatsui: After the Red Moon. This monumental work wasoriginally conceived and commissioned as the Hyundai Commission: El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon for Tate Modern, London, 2023.
El Anatsui has worked with October Gallery since 1993 and the artist’s most recent exhibition at the gallery was TimeSpace 2023 –2024, for which Anatsui created a new series of mesmerising works.
