Sapiens #1 | 25·12·17 #3

Ant Pearce’s practice focuses on the concept that man is condemned to exist imprisoned while always being free. He explores the fragility of life, drawing on human psychology, exploring ideas related to consciousness and awareness. Current work examines with the process of repair and friendship. Inspired by the artist’s friends, fellow artists and contemporaries Annie Terrazzo and Rebecca Boyd Allen; and CrossFit Games athlete Annie Sakamoto. Outside influences have been provided by the artists Kader Attia and Dorothea Tanning’s exhibitions which took place in 2019. The writings and topics discussed by author and neuroscientist Sam Harris, writer and speaker Alan Watts, and poet David Whyte have also been significant in shaping the direction of the artist’s work. Artwork is based on images from high end fashion magazines, created in watercolor, using a limited palette. Influenced by the French painter Andre Lhote, the artist’s focus is to develop techniques in color harmony taught to him by his contemporary and friend Rebecca Boyd Allen during his stay in London during the Spring of 2019. Through a web of cross-references between medium and form, the viewer is positioned before each work in discourse between order and chaos. Thus, bringing into visibility the sense of imprisonment and anxiety, which underlie human existence, and the instinctive desire to return to an inanimate state. Ant is an emerging British artist, based in London. He attended Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, after which he studied the MA Visual Arts course at Camberwell College of Arts, graduating with Merit in late 2012. His work continues to be exhibited and collected in London, the UK, Europe and the US. His work is available via Artsy and he is currently represented by Artvera’s Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, White Court Art, UK and Perseus Gallery, NY.