Irvin Pascal (b. 1987) lives and works in Sussex, England. He holds a BA in Architecture (2008) and MA Fine Art, University of Brighton (2017). Pascal’s work first featured at Cob in 2018 as part of group exhibition NEW WORK PART II: Material and has since exhibited internationally in the US, Nigeria and Europe.
Irvin Pascal’s multidisciplinary practice includes painting, sculpture and performance and explores the representation of the black body, the nature of masculinity, sexuality, personal agency, the place of community and the reverberations of art history. Pascal’s work is a direct reflection of his experiences as an artist, a philosopher, and a man of African and Caribbean roots.
Pascal’s recent paintings are made from different organic materials and paint, a combination that generates texture variations and lends the works a collage appearance. Pascal has named the Abstract Expressionists, as well as figures associated with the School of London and Young British Artists as references. He draws further inspiration from an enormously broad range of figurative and abstract painting styles, as well as new-media art. Music is an additional significant source of inspiration to him. Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, but also Skepta, Drake, and even contemporary pop songs find their way into Pascal’s work.
Pascal has also become known for his arresting and monumental sculptural work. Totemic in appearance, they fluctuate between enigmatic and aggressive dressing questions of race and masculinity through a very certain deployment of material and its treatment. Aiming to dissolve the traditional division between painting and sculpture he constructs these from ebonised wood, through to paintings which utilise his own unique material called Pascollar. Pascollar is the result of years of experimenting with a variety of sculpting and painting materials can be formed like clay or plaster, but it surpasses these materials in stability, durability, and value. Pascal’s sculptures have their own ‘signature style’, akin to the individual brushstrokes on a painting that reveal the identity of the master. The versatility of Pascollar is even demonstrated in the medium of painting. He thus ultimately opens a new dialogue between his two and three-dimensional works.
Irivn Pascal was one of of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibited at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle in 2017 and since exhibiting at Cob has participated in Talisman in the age of difference, curated by Yinka Shonibare MBE, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2018). Recent performances include Royal XX XX at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2020).
Solo exhibitions include No End to New Beginnings, County Gallery, Palm Beach, USA (2020); The Nenaissance, Niki Cryan, Lagos (Eko Atlantic), Nigeria (2019); The Sweetest Taboo, GNYP Gallery, Berlin (2018).
Group exhibitions include Young Monsters, curated by Marcelle Joseph, Lychee One, London (2019); PIAF, Copeland Gallery, London (2017); The Long Count, Von Goetz Art, London (2017); Atkinson Gallery, Somerset (2018); and BHM, Latham Watkins, London (2017). Irvin Pascal’s work is also included in collections such as Latham Watkins LLP.