PROFILE
Born in Camberwell, South London, on the 22nd of February 1972, and growing up in Forest Gate, East London, Reggie
Okerheire Pedro's approach to his work would appear, at least in a non-literal sense, to be a reflection on his
perceptions and experiences, growing up in London. One of the first things an artist of any nature might say to
you about their work is that the work comes from their experiences, but then what other basis or foundation could
an artist have for expressing themselves as honestly as possible, than to come from a perspective that is as true
to them as they are to it. This would also beg the question as to what is experience, and how do we measure an artist's
performance or body of work in relation to their experience in life.
For Reggie Pedro his experience growing up in London only really offers a superficial component to his work, which isn't
to discredit the fact that London lifestyle has a lot to offer to artists culturally, from a social-political viewpoint
or just aesthetically, but really to say that the real expression in his work can be found in the interplay amongst his
depiction of characters or in the lone character, in how these characters are portrayed within the bold use of colour,
outlines, flat planes and surfaces, occasional handwritten text sometimes giving a hint or indication to, or emphasising
a theme or subject-matter within multi-layered images that trigger the viewer's imagination through their glimpses of possible
narratives.
It is when dealing with these aspects of the work, ignoring momentarily the urban settings in the work, that you can identify
maybe on a more holistic level with the subjects that Reggie attempts to give life to as paintings.
The fact that Reggie uses the visual medium of paint to articulate his ideas shouldn't be seen as a technique which has been
given little thought or as an outdated medium in today's computer generated image world. But on the contrary, paint which is
essentially pigment like any other use of colour can be used, and has been used in a variety of ways depending on whose
hands are using it and how they view the world around them in relation to how they treat the medium.
His paintings are the site of tension between representation and creative intervention, between seriousness and upliftment
or humour. The work spans areas of our lives which deal with civil unrest, love, boredom, isolation, exuberance, spirituality,
to name some of the literal concepts that Reggie Pedro tries to tackle. There is a lot of struggle that takes place in the
creation of his work, struggles within figuration, semi-abstraction, and abstraction.
His will is to render our existences as sincerely as possible without losing sight of his creative artistic endeavours.
Bruegal Futtywheat - Artspew
THE GALLERIES
The Galleries are divided into three areas:
The 'Paintings' section shows work done on canvas or paper dating from 1996 to the present day it also includes a three
dimensional piece made up of 52 painted bottles arranged on a free standing structure.
The 'Commissioned work' section shows work done as various outside jobs from 1997 onwards, including illustrations for
Arena Magazine and record and CD cover artwork done for the 1998 mercury prize award winning band Gomez.
The 'Preliminary Artwork' section is a collection of drawings partly completed paintings and images taken from the
artists sketchbooks, some of which appear in his finalised paintings or commissioned artwork.
EDUCATION
Sept 88-July 89 Btec First Diploma in Art and Design
Sept 90-July 92 Btec National Diploma in General Art and Design, Barnet
College, North London.
Oct 92-June 95 BA (hons) in Fine Art, Painting at the University of West
England, Bristol.
Oct 95-June 97 MA Illustration at the Royal College of Art.