Fahamu Pecou
BornJune 25, 1975
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma materAtlanta College of Art
Known forVisual artist
Notable workPursuit of Happiness, Imagining New Worlds, Grav•i•ty, I Know Why the Caged Bird Blings and Talking Drum.
StylePainting, Canvas

Fahamu Pecou (born June 25, 1975) is an American painter and scholar. He is known for producing works that combine aspects of Fine art and Hip-hop.[1][2][3][4] Most of his works engage representations of black masculinity and identity.[5][6][7]

Early life and education

Pecou was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1975 to Alphonso Pecou and Betty Ann Ridges. His father's extended family had moved from Panama to Brooklyn, and his mother had moved with her brother from Hartsville, South Carolina. The couple met when she moved into an apartment in the brownstone that the Pecou family owned. Prior to Pecou's birth, Alphonso Pecou enlisted in the United Negro Improvement Association, and moved his family to Virgin Gorda before returning to Brooklyn.[8]

When Pecou was four years old, his father murdered his mother after being diagnosed with schizophrenia and being repeatedly institutionalized. He and his siblings were sent to live with a relative in Hartsville, South Carolina, where he produced comic strips centered around the superhero, "Black Man."

Pecou graduated with a B.F.A in Painting and Digital Media from the Atlanta College of Art in 1997. He received his M.A. from Emory University's Institute of Liberal Arts in 2017 and his Ph.D. from Emory University in 2018.[9]

Career

The Return, 2016

Pecou began his career as a graphic designer, producing materials for nightclubs, restaurants, and politicians as well as hip hop artists and music labels. While working with rap artists, Pecou began to consider the marketing strategies used in hip hop and applied those strategies to his own practice. His early paintings juxtaposed a street-savvy and in-your-face hip hop bravado with the more conservative art world. More recently, his paintings focus on contemporary representations of black masculinity and identity.[10][11]

Pecou uses acrylic paint on canvas, video, music and performance art and academic writings to engage the complexities and convergences of hip-hop and black masculinity. His works display the spirit of modern-day Black America and also depict the history and culture of the African diaspora.[12][13] They are known to be bold, bright and confrontational with inherent political undertone.[14][15][16][17]

Notable series within Pecou's body of work include Pursuit of Happiness (2013), Imagining New Worlds (2015), Grav•i•ty (2014), I Know Why the Caged Bird Blings (2015) and Talking Drum (2016).[12][18][19][20] Pecou's works are featured in major national and international galleries, museums and collections such as: the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture,[14][21] the High Museum of Art,[22][23][24] Société Générale (Paris),[25] Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University,[26][27] Paul R. Jones Collection,[28] Clark Atlanta University Art Collection,[29] Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia,[7] and several others both in the private and public sectors.[30][31][32]

Pecou engages in regular solo and group art exhibition across the globe.[33] He also holds public lectures and speaking engagements at colleges and museums across the US.[34] In addition to his own work, Pecou has curated notable exhibitions, including RiTES at the Zuckerman Museum at Kennesaw State University.[34] In 2015, Pecou was selected by the City of Atlanta's Office of Cultural Affairs to curate ELEVATE Atlanta; the city’s annual public arts festival.[3]

Starting in 2015, Pecou has also collaborated with the organizations WonderRoot, MARTA, Fulton County Arts and Culture, and the TransFormation Alliance to revitalize select MARTA stations by painting murals.[35] The stations that will participate in this En Route program include the King Memorial, Oakland City, Hamilton E. Holmes, and Ashby stations.[36] The goal of the project is to make the stations more inviting and encourage a sense of community.[35] The project received $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.[37] So far, murals by Pecou have been painted at the King Memorial Station, the Ashby Station, and the Oakland City Station.[37][38][39]

On Saturday, September 8, 2018, Pecou's studio was destroyed in a fire while he was traveling abroad.[40]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rebecca, Dimling Cochran (26 April 2010). "Fahamu Pecou". Arts in America Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  2. ↑ POLOGOD (25 November 2015). "Contemporary Artist Fahamu Pecou Brings The Blackness To Art Basel". THE SOURCE MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 Yvette, Caslin (15 September 2015). "Artists Fahamu Pecou, Organized Noize team for Elevate, 'Forever I Love Atlanta'". rollingout.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Rodney, Carmichael (12 November 2013). "Fahamu Pecou to guest edit Art Papers". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Becca, Thomas (5 March 2015). "Fahamu Pecou: Challenging Masculinity in the Media". Rooms Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Muriel, Vega. "MARTA recruits WonderRoot, Fahamu Pecou for En Route program". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  7. 1 2 Kimber, Williams (17 February 2015). "Artist and scholar: Fahamu Pecou challenges concepts of black masculinity". EMORY News Center. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Bentley, Rosalind (July 28, 2013). "Art of Survival". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Fahamu Pecou | CV". Fahamu Pecou. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  10. ↑ "Morehouse College To Host Artist Talk With Fahamu Pecou". Morehouse College. 7 January 2016. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Mack, Tom (27 April 2016). "In REMIX Exhibition, African-American Artists Offer Powerful Tweaks to Familiar Themes". free-times.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  12. 1 2 Jacinta, Howard (26 January 2016). "'Talking Drum' puts social justice on blast". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  13. ↑ Kate, Sweeney (20 August 2015). "MARTA Murals Are First Stop 'En Route' To Neighborhood Change". news.wabe.org. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  14. 1 2 Solé, Aurochs (25 September 2015). "Enter the Art of Fahamu Pecou". Ebony. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  15. ↑ Laura, Hutson (28 August 2014). "An exhibit of paintings by Fahamu Pecou is Culture Fest's crowning jewel". NASHVILLE SCENE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  16. ↑ Dylan, Fagan (25 February 2014). "StoryCorps: Fahamu Pecou". news.wabe.org. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "The 13th Floor Lounge Podcast Launches With Visual Artist Fahamu Pecou!". beatrixmoss.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "Fahamu Pecou". Widewalls Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  19. ↑ Sara, Khaled. "Moving Weighted". Threshold Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  20. ↑ Faith, McClure (30 December 2014). "Review: Fahamu Pecou soars in striking, smart, timely "Grav•i•ty," at MOCA GA". artsatl.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  21. ↑ Kimber, Williams (14 May 2015). "Emory doctoral student's painting acquired by new Smithsonian museum". EMORY News Center. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  22. ↑ Howard, Pousner (22 February 2015). "High Museum exhibit a dream come true for Fahamu Pecou; museum acquires four works at Collectors Evening". ajc.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  23. ↑ Gavin, Godfrey (14 October 2014). "Solo exhibitions from Fahamu Pecou and José Parlá coming to the High". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  24. ↑ Rodney, Carmichael (24 May 2013). "Fahamu Pecou deconstructs 'All Dat Glitters' on the canvas and the mic (and the iPhone)". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  25. ↑ Collin (22 July 2015). "En Route: Art installations coming to MARTA transit stations". Atlanta Intown Paper. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  26. ↑ Wendy, Livingston (28 December 2012). "Nasher Focuses on Artists of African Descent". today.duke.edu. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  27. ↑ Samuel, Feldblum. "Reality of My Surroundings: The Contemporary Collection". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  28. ↑ Samuel (15 January 2015). "UA's Jones Gallery to Display Newly Acquired Works". UA News. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  29. ↑ "Fahamu Pecou - Do Or Die: Affect, Ritual, And Resistance". halsey.cofc.edu. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  30. ↑ Howard, Pousner (28 July 2015). "Visual notes: Fahamu Pecou art coming to MARTA; Poem 88 presents landscapes". ajc.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  31. ↑ Kiplyn, Primus (10 October 2015). "Fahamu Pecou, Rico Wade Join Kiplyn Primus On The Local Take". wclk.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  32. ↑ Rodney, Carmichael. "Fahamu Pecou and José Parlá in a parallel universe". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  33. ↑ Nicole, Smythe Johnson (15 February 2013). "The Reservations of Blackness and the Politics of Medium- Interrogating Fahamu Pecou". arcthemagazine.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  34. 1 2 Gavin, Godfrey (25 August 2016). "Fahamu Pecou talks curating Elevate and MARTA". CREATIVE LOAFING MAGAZINE. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  35. 1 2 "MARTA stations to feature mural artwork". myajc. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  36. ↑ "MARTA recruits WonderRoot, Fahamu Pecou for En Route program | Atlanta Creative Loafing". Atlanta Creative Loafing. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  37. 1 2 "En Route - WonderRoot". WonderRoot. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  38. ↑ "MARTA". www.itsmarta.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  39. ↑ "MARTA'S ARTBOUND PROGRAM COMMISSIONS MURALS IN FOUR RAIL STATIONS - MARTA". leadership.saportareport.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  40. ↑ "Fire claims studio of Atlanta artist and Emory alum Fahamu Pecou". news.emory.edu. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  41. 1 2 3 "Fahamu Pecou". widewalls. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  42. 1 2 3 "Fahamu Pecou". artspace.com. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  43. ↑ 20 years of Artists-In-Residence McColl Center
  44. ↑ "Fahamu Pecou". Conduit Gallery. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  45. ↑ Foundation, Joan Mitchell. "Announcing the 2016 Painters & Sculptors Grant Recipients". joanmitchellfoundation.org. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
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