Na'ye Perez, Higher, Thy Will / Peace of Mind, 2022; Limited Edition Print
Na'ye Perez is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist from Columbus, OH. By navigating through personal experience and memory, the importance of intimacy within Perez’s community and self establishes his narrative modes of accessibility. The artist uses found objects, such as playing cards, cigarette packages, and other cultural ephemera collaged with environmental materials such as sand from local beaches and other personal locations. The artist received his MFA from the Pratt Institute. Recent exhibitions include What You Know Bout Love… at BRIC House Hallway (Brooklyn, NY); Migrating Sun Part 1 at Welancora (Brooklyn, NY); and Outside at RegularNormal (New York, NY) among others. The artist’s work has been featured in a number of publications including Cultured Magazine, Time Out, and Town & Country.
Higher, Thy Will / Peace of Mind is a work that speaks to the intersection of community and identity. The subject, a friend of the artist’s from California, is at the crest of her high-jump, her locs fall through the air as she is silhouetted against a pale blue background with light blue tropical leaves. Her teal uniform pops with a hot pink and blue hibiscus pattern and a yellow stripe, complemented by the black, green and yellow in her socks. At the peak of this triumph, Perez melts away the competitive environment and centers Black Presence, both physically and metaphorically with resilience and grace that success in track and field demands. Whether through the colors in the socks—the same shades as the Pan-African Flag designed by political activist and writer, Marcus Garvey in 1920, as well as the Jamaican and Guaynese flags of the subject’s heritage—or his characteristic melange of found cultural ephemera, this nod captures the artist’s expanding references and rich communication of place. The artist has hand-embellished a portion of the edition with additional lino block prints collaged with magazine cutouts and painted elements, making each piece unique.
Na’ye Perez
ART FOR CHANGE will donate 5% of the purchase price, up to $15,000, of each limited edition print sold towards the Alliance to help bolster its mission to sustain, restore and advance Prospect Park to benefit the diverse communities it serves. In keeping with all of our releases, all artists will receive 50% of the net proceeds from each print sale.
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*Unframed prints ship within 1-3 weeks.
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