Reggie Pedro – glimpses of possible narratives

78 Stone Wobble, 2007



“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medium of paint to articulate his ideas shouldn't be seen as a technique which has been given little thought or as an outdated medium in today's computer generated image world.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.”

Reggie Okerheire Pedro, British illustrator and painter, passed away last November at the age of 35. His work can be seen on his website.

[Citation: Image reproduced from Eyestorm. Reggie Pedro’s profile, by Bruegal Futtywheat – Artspew, quoted from Reggie Pedro’s website.]