Now in its 41st year October Gallery has been instrumental in bringing some of the world’s leading contemporary artists to the attention of international audiences. For UNTITLED, ART Miami Beach the gallery presents works in Booth D7, by Alexis Peskine, Romuald Hazoumè, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Jordan Ann Craig, LR Vandy, Aubrey Williams and Benji Reid.Alexis Peskine’s signature works are large-scale mixed media portraits depicting people of the African diaspora. By hammering gold leafed nails into wood stained with coffee and mud, he creates breath-taking images depicting figures that portray strength and perseverance. Romuald Hazoumè has one of the most iconic bodies of work in contemporary African art. Whether taking aim at endemic political corruption in Africa or addressing the global indifference compounding environmental disasters, Hazoumè creates visually striking works.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga explores the shifts in the economic, political and social identity of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His highly sought-after compositions possess a depth of historical understanding, with a striking interplay of the intensity of space juxtaposed with emptiness.
Jordan Ann Craig creates paintings which explore existence, cultural memory and epiphany. Craig creates new narratives within her work while celebrating her ancestors and Indigenous land. Her abstract paintings expand the definition of Native American art, and how culture is transmitted. In her ‘Hull’ series, LR Vandy transforms model boat hulls into ‘masks’, animating them with various materials, including fishing floats, porcupine quills and acupuncture needles. The hulls allude to the transportation of migrants as commodities. As masks they present a transformation of identity, drawing upon the tradition of talismans, charms and amulets.
Benji Reid’s photographs are composed primarily of self-portraits in incredible, anti-gravitational poses with a medley of props, draws the audience into a different dimension. In the hyper-realities he presents, the subject is liberated by acts of the artist’s imagination.
Aubrey Williams’ work, often a blend of abstraction and figuration, references the natural world, music and Mesoamerican indigenous culture. Early key influences, such as Gorky, de Kooning and Rothko, impacted him to progressively push boundaries of technique, scale and colour. Williams left his native Guyana for London in 1952, but by the late 1970s felt restricted by the limitations of his inner city studio. He was able to realise progressively expansive art projects from studios established, first in Jamaica - where he painted alongside a dynamic group of contemporary Jamaican artists - and then from a solo Florida space.
