Pharaoh Kakudji at Stems Gallery

Artist: Pharaoh Kakudji 

Exhibition title: Tear A Part, Torn A Part

Venue: Stems Gallery, Paris, France

Date: May 14 – June 4, 2022

Photography: all images courtesy of the artist and Stems Gallery, Brussels/Paris

STEMS Gallery is pleased to present Tear A Part, Torn A Part, a solo exhibition by French-American artist Pharaoh Kakudji on view from May 14 to June 4, 2022 at 11 Rue Pastourelle in Paris.

Kakudji’s fresh take on figuration and self-portraiture shines a light on the importance of self-study, fighting for your art, and the challenge of ‘being yourself’. Unable to afford the cost and constant need of new canvases in New York, he began to rip wheatpasted posters off the street and transformed the back of them into his canvas. The hyper-intimate and purely expres-sionist paintings often portray different scenes from Pharaoh’s life, both in dreams and awake.

His choice of canvas also comes from a desire to find beauty in the rough. The natural torn and crinkled texture of the paper is just as much a part of the work as the paint and pencil marks. He wrestles with his ideas and emotions as he tears through his perspectives of the world in search of meaning in the life and times he lives in. The choice of medium also helps him geo-locate or track his thoughts, the act of finding the right paper on the streets of New York and Paris serves as a timestamp for where he is in his journey of life, both physically and mentally. The paintings represent the individual need to stop and process feelings of pain, hope, and desire in the midst of an accelerating entropic world.

The works poignantly showcase both the mundane and fantastical elements that make up a human life, a life of magic if you chose to look. The subjects might be splayed out, gazing up at the galaxies, sprouting numerous arms and boils or next to a lion in the midst of chaos. In either case, the scenes are filled with relatability and the need to expend energy.

Pharaoh Kakudji, Tear A Part, Torn A Part, 2022, exhibition view, Stems Gallery, Paris

Pharaoh Kakudji, Tear A Part, Torn A Part, 2022, exhibition view, Stems Gallery, Paris

Pharaoh Kakudji, Tear A Part, Torn A Part, 2022, exhibition view, Stems Gallery, Paris

Pharaoh Kakudji, Pain, curse, protection, 2022 Mixed media on paper, 951⁄4 x 46 in., 242 x 117 cm.

Pharaoh Kakudji, Bâtiment P, Apt 495, 3 Brothers, 2022 Mixed media on paper, 783⁄4 x 901⁄2 in., 200 x 230 cm.

Pharaoh Kakudji, Her web/ tryna let it go, 2022 Mixed media on paper, 763⁄8 x 491⁄4 in., 194 x 125 cm.

Pharaoh Kakudji, Anatomy lessons by my demons, 2022 Mixed media on paper, 791⁄8 x 901⁄2 in., 201 x 230 cm.

Pharaoh Kakudji, The Fool 2022 / without the rain they would be no flowers, 2022, Mixed media on paper, 1141⁄8 x 523⁄4 in., 290 x 134 cm.