The artwork features a close-up black and white photograph of a person's torso, highlighting their muscular shoulders and neck. The most prominent visual element is the text "THINGS FALL APART" tattooed across the subject's chest, conveying a sense of disintegration or breakdown. The stark lighting and dramatic shadows create a contemplative, almost melancholic mood. The photographer's use of high-contrast chiaroscuro technique emphasizes the powerful, sculptural quality of the subject's physical form. This poignant image seems to reflect on the transience and fragility of human existence, alluding to the artist's intention of exploring themes of decay, vulnerability, and the human condition. ...
David Alekhuogie was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1986. He has worked in southern California for most of his career and his photography shoots have taken place in the region. His love for art began whilst he attended the University of California Berkley, where he earned a Bachelor's of Art in sociology and minored in ethnomusicology. After Alekhuogie attended Berkley, he transitioned to a career in the arts. In 2013, he worked with various publications, such as The Source, Complex, and The Fader, the latter of which was produced by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen in New York.
Alekhuogie's themes primarily revolve around anti-racist rhetoric, police brutality, and contemporary issues regarding systemic inequalities. His subject matter features the urban fashion of modern African-American culture (such as sagging). As Alekhuogie notes, "Though the saggy pants style has been around for three decades, it has triggered public consternation among politicians in recent years and spurred a spate of local ordinances around the country, resulting in fines and at times prison time." His photo series, Pull Up (2017), and To Live and Die in LA (2019), both feature sagging.
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Commonwealth and Council is a gallery in Koreatown, Los Angeles founded in 2010. Our program is rooted in our commitment to explore how a community of artists can sustain our co-existence through generosity and hospitality. Commonwealth and Council celebrates our manifold identities and experiences through the shared dialogue of art—championing practices by women, queer, POC, and our ally artists to build counter-histories that reflect our individual and collective realities. ...
