Alexeis Reyes

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Artist statement

In my studio practice, I combine Printmaking, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Sound, and Video to explore how wordplay is used on an object or idea to allude to a particular place, culture, or history. I experiment with traditional and non- traditional materials and processes as a system that seeks knowledge that evades language. Rooted in corporeal expression, an autobiographical element is absorbed into a broader investigation of self, often problematized in relation to power structures. Informed by my research activities into post-colonial critique my interdisciplinary investigations try to negotiate critical dialogue with which to challenge ideologies and scrutinize myths subsumed under socio-political, cultural, economic, and historical discourse. Through literal or symbolic representation, I want to examine how I represent my own concerns, calling into question codes of identity construction that undergird the intricate relationship between culture production and the society within which it is produced. I am interested in how material grammar can challenge the intersection of identity and diasporic displacement to generate new possibilities for meaning.

Artwork

• I wish your wish lives in my wish, 2019. Wall spackle dust
• Lies about the lies we lie about, 2019. Lino cut grenade print (20x20x20”) on burnt victim gauge, human hair (20”), motor, fake, golden pearls
• How dare you do what I would do if I were you, 2017. 2 glass pearl necklaces (6’ each); small metal rod (4”), Wood sculpture (11 ½ x 16”), eyelashes (11 ½ x 4 ½”) LD lights (38”), mannequin hands, white, and door viewer
• How dare you do what I would do if I were you (detail), 2017. 2 glass pearls necklaces (6 feet); small metal rod (4”), Wood sculpture (11 ½ x 16”), eyelashes (11 ½ x 4 ½”) LD lights (38”), mannequin hands, white, and door viewer
• Visiting Gentleman, 2017. Expandable bathroom rod handle (5 feet), tea dye printmaking paper (32X57X25X55”), Mirror paper (32”x57”x25”)
• Rose Pistol, 2017. Clay rose (4 ½ “), dildo (8”), mink fur (12”) and microphone stands (one at 53” and one at 64”)
• Drop and give me 20, 2016. Handmade, bent Plexiglass mirror (26”x24”), and push up bars (10x7 ½ x 5 ½ “)