Pedro Pedro
Juicy still lives that celebrate the everyday
“The paintings take on their own life, outside of my everyday encounters with the objects depicted.”
Pedro Pedro re-imagines still life in juicy paintings of the everyday. “I attempt to animate objects that I interact with daily and give them personality or life,” he says. Lush tableaux of fruit, flowers, clothes and food jostle alongside cigarette butts. The colours and shapes are cartoonish and playful – full of exaggerated lines. Much like his painting style, Pedro's process fuses analogue and digital aspects. He starts with a small sketch which is photographed and put into Photoshop. This is then made into a digital collage, which the artist translates back onto raw linen with chalk. He t...
Pedro Pedro re-imagines still life in juicy paintings of the everyday. “I attempt to animate objects that I interact with daily and give them personality or life,” he says. Lush tableaux of fruit, flowers, clothes and food jostle alongside cigarette butts. The colours and shapes are cartoonish and playful – full of exaggerated lines. Much like his painting style, Pedro's process fuses analogue and digital aspects. He starts with a small sketch which is photographed and put into Photoshop. This is then made into a digital collage, which the artist translates back onto raw linen with chalk. He then fills in using textile paint which has a unique transparent dye effect. Finally, areas of colour and details are added in acrylic.
Pedro is a lover of art history and often reworks famous paintings. Bowl With Citrus (2020) updates Giovanna Garzoni's Still Life with Bowl of Citrons (c.1648). Let’s Go Home (2018) reimagines Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1885) with an empty wine glass and a banana skin. In doing so, Pedro looks at the symbolism of food throughout the ages. Lobsters represent gluttony. Oysters, temptation. Motifs like these prop up throughout his practice, but always with a knowing wink. “They’re parodies of still life paintings,” he says – mundane things turned funny and intriguing.
Don Pablo Pedro, aka Pedro Pedro, (he/him) was born in 1986 in Miami, United States. He now lives and works in Los Angeles.
While recovering from an operation in hospital, Pedro had the idea to use a bed sheet as a canvas. Since then, he's only used raw linen to create his paintings, usually with watercolours.
The painter has had solo exhibitions with The Hole gallery in New York. They include Cantaloupe and Kokomo (2021) and Still Life (2020). In Los Angeles, he showed Pedro Pedro: Why We Should Steal A Cow ? (2019) at New Image Art gallery.
