Details:
① Artwork:
On Sight
This painting shows a seated figure with a glass of wine, their head surrounded by a cartoonish cloud. Flying fists, feet, and stars, within this “cloud” read as the kicked-up dust of a high-action fight scene from classic cartoons. Isolated on the figure’s head, the cloud becomes a metaphor for internal or mental toil or even frustration, anxiety, and stress.
Like many paintings in this series, the artist recreates cinematic tropes but intentionally places Black figures in their leading roles as the protagonists.
Alexis Pye’s practice explores the tradition of portraiture through the Black body as seen outside its social constructs. Her formal strategies integrate mixed media with painting, embroidery and punch-stitch needlework.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Alexis Pye’s practice explores the tradition of portraiture as a way to express the Black body outside of its social constructs. By placing her subjects in leisurely, luscious, nature-rich, and even fantastical settings, her artworks evoke a unique playfulness, wonder, Blackness, and joy amidst adversity. Her formal strategies integrate mixed media with painting, embroidery and punch-stitch needlework.
Alexis Pye was born in 1995 in Detroit, MI, and resides in Houston, TX. She received her BFA in Painting from the University of Houston in Houston, TX (2018).
Pye has mounted solo exhibitions at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, TX (2023), and Inman Gallery in Houston, TX (2021).
She was also included in group shows such as Mythofuturiddim at Winter Street Studios in Houston, TX (2022); Houston Rockets x CAMH at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in Houston, TX (2022); My Mirror Is Fine, curated by Miles Payne at the Community Artists Collective in Houston, TX; and Animal Crossing at Inman Gallery, Houston TX (2022).
This painting shows a seated figure with a glass of wine, their head surrounded by a cartoonish cloud. Flying fists, feet, and stars, within this “cloud” read as the kicked-up dust of a high-action fight scene from classic cartoons. Isolated on the figure’s head, the cloud becomes a metaphor for internal or mental toil or even frustration, anxiety, and stress.More
- Unframed
