Opening 7 July 2012

 

London-based artist Eddie Peake (born 1981) has quickly established a reputation for his paintings, installations and performances. They reflect engagement with modern urban life and an interest in the ambiguity of sexuality and gender. Provocative and surprising, Peake adopts many roles at once – painter, sculptor, performer, choreographer and at times curator - to stimulate his audience.

 

Call 2 Arms is Eddie Peake's second exhibition at Galleria Lorcan O'Neill Roma. His recent performance of a nude football match, Touch, at the Royal Academy in London drew a lot of attention; and his forthcoming installation and performance to open Tate Modern's new Oil Tank space to coincide with the Olympics in late July is much anticipated.

 

Call 2 Arms opens with large spray paintings of faces rendered in vivid colours, made using the  negative space left by plastic bags and scarves. Also included are  highlighter-coloured paintings on steel panels. In these Peake plays with words and images, obscuring and revealing elements while exposing parts of the mirror-finished surface beneath, which in turn reflects the viewer and forces him to be part of the multi-layered image.

Peake will also install work made with black and white photographic posters taken from his performances; these form the backdrop to pastel-toned paintings with texts and other images which are hung directly over the photographs. These works refer to the intense emotions of life, and include the words of text messages, refrains from songs, sport slogans, and other anthems. A large room installation occupies the centre of the main gallery: the cumbersome structure allows only partial views of the works hung on the walls, challenging the audience to confront another kind of negative space and forcing it to move and act like a voyeur among the works of art.

 

Eddie Peake's first show at Galleria Lorcan O'Neill Roma was in 2010 after his residency at the British School at Rome. Peake's most recent performances have been Touch, a nude football match at the Royal Academy in London; and DEM, an exhibition with music, film, and live performance - all composed and choreographed by the artist - at Cell Projects in London. His upcoming projects include a new commission for Tate Modern in July; and a performance at the Chisenhale Gallery, London. Peake's work has been recently reviewed in Frieze Magazine, Mousse Magazine, and in The Independent Newspaper.