Alexis Pye

Alexis Pye (born 1995, Detroit, MI) is a Houston-based artist whose practice explores the tradition of portraiture to express the Black body outside of its social constructs. Placing her subjects in leisurely, luscious, nature-rich and even fantastical settings, her works evoke, playfulness, wonder and Blackness, as well as the joys amidst adversity. Her formal strategies include an integration of mixed media within painting, including embroidery and punch-stitch needlework.

 

Pye received her BFA in Painting from the University of Houston in 2018. She was included in the group show Animal Crossing at Inman Gallery in 2020, and presented her first solo show, The Real and the Fantastic/The Irrational Joys of the Axis, at Inman Gallery in July 2021. In 2021, her work was included in the group exhibitions My Mirror Is Fine curated by Miles Payne at the Community Artists Collective, Houston and Honor Thy Self at Martha's Contemporary in Austin. In 2022, she collaborated with the Houston Rockets x CAMH at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. She is currently a Lawndale Artist Studio Program Participant for the 2022-2023 season, where her exhibition "You really livin: A world that was always full of yellow sun, green trees, and blue sea and black people" is on view through March 11, 2023.

Alexis Pye lives and works in Houston, TX.