A riot cop covered in flames in the middle of the street, Claude Monet’s poppies swallowed by a hole in the sky, and a large ship tearing up the Earth’s surface, leaving a bloody scar behind it- these are images Pejac recently shared on his Facebook page, where he just announced his highly anticipated solo exhibition in London. Known primarily for his striking “public interventions”, works that cleverly mix illusion and reality, fantasy and familiarity featured here, the Barcelona based street artist is once again moving his work from the public arena and into the gallery.
Embracing the unlimited possibilities of blank canvas, he has employed different styles and techniques within each new work. From minimalist black and white pieces to elaborate remakes and references to famous paintings or photographs, the main focus of his work remains in its political or social content. This includes images such a his remake of the 1963 World Press Photo of the year depicting a riot cop in flames in the same setting of Malcolm Browne photograph of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Quang Duc’s self-immolation. By switching the roles of authority and the oppressed, Pejac is commenting here on the morals and values of our time. Other works, such as a striking image of a boat ripping up Earth’s surface and opening a red scar, or a tribes man teaching geography by using the dried-out ground, are his dark predictions of where the Earth and humanity are heading. Touching upon subjects that are universal like climate change or the global economic situation, Pejacs’ new body of work offers a well-researched and poetic expression of relevant topics both to the artist and society.
