Alexis Pye (born 1995, Detroit, MI) explores the tradition of painting as a way to express the Black body outside of its social constructs, to evoke playfulness, wonder, and blackness, as well as the joys amidst adversity. Pye received her BFA in Painting from the University of Houston in 2018. She was selected as a Summer Studios Resident and for Round 51: Local Impact II at Project Row Houses, both in 2018. Her work was exhibited in a group show of young artists at the David Shelton Gallery for Everything's Gonna be Alright in 2019, curated by Robert Hodge. Pye received the Juror's Choice Prize for the 20th Annual Citywide African American Artists Exhibition held at Texas Southern University in 2019, selected by Kanitra Fletcher
She was included in the group show Animal Crossing at Inman Gallery in 2020, and presented her first solo show, The Real and the Fantastic/The Irrational Joys of the Axis, at Inman Gallery in July 2021. In 2021, her work was included in the group exhibitions My Mirror Is Fine curated by Miles Payne at the Community Artists Collective, Houston and Honor Thy Self at Martha's Contemporary in Austin. Her work was also in the MFAH staff art show at the Museum Fine Arts, Houston in 2021 and she has collaborated with the Houston Rockets x CAMH at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 2022. She is a Round 16 Lawndale Artist Studio Program Participant for the 2022-2023 season.
Alexis Pye lives and works in Houston, TX.
Artist Statement
In my work, I address the power of Black leisure, inviting the viewer into the joys cultivated amidst ecosystems of adversity. This practice is unapologetically Black, silly, sarcastic, and witty. My works often recall French plein air painting emphasizing the theme of nature as a space of recreation. Unexpected figures rendered with stark lines lounge amidst green grass and flowers, enjoying idleness in intimate and vulnerable compositions. Collaging images creates an oeuvre of an inhabited world that does not pay attention to the outside world. Instead, the outside world is watching and wanting to understand and make sense of the senseless. In my work, I try to create scenes that reference but are not burdened by history, instead are filled with contemporary moments of play, idle time, and joy.These paintings explore the looser landscape of what it means to be Black.
