Sebastien Pierre

JUST LIE TO ME

curated by Darla Migan

JUST LIE TO ME
2021
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

AWKWARD & FAMOUS
2020
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

TOO URBAN
2021
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

JUST LIE TO ME is an art exhibition of the conceptual artist Sebastien Pierre (@bougieboybash) exploring possibilities for decentralized channels through a community-organized curatorial project in Brooklyn and Queens. As a professional graphic designer, Pierre’s improvisational practice in newsprint collage misappropriates the vernacular of commercial media to show the competing and overlapping desires driving contemporary celebrity culture and social movements.

YOUR WORLD
2021
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

The six works presented in JUST LIE TO ME cut into the quiet arrangements driving our deepest desires for both social justice and staying cute. Between Pierre’s Haitian heritage and coming of age in Atlanta, Georgia and New York City, the artist’s consciousness grew with the recognition of how racialized identity remains context dependent. Whether being identified as bougie (read: acting white) or as too urban (read: threatening), the unwinnable game of Black representation was expressed through the nihilistic embrace of capitalist excess by the anti- aspirational ‘Lil’s’ face-tat rap (circa 2016).

LIL MUMBO
2021
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

RAGE AGAINST THE ENEMY
2021
scanned newspaper collage
dimensions variable

Through a mixtape inspired play of redaction and reduction, wordplay, font-play and, yes, cute cues referencing a generational shift in Black consciousness, JUST LIE TO ME presents artwork disrupting formulaic representations of Black culture to gently bypass the (algo)rhythms of desire currently running the show. To continue exploring JUST LIE TO ME visit variableterms.com.

For inquiries, please contact: info@straightlick.com
For limited edition prints, please visit VariableTerms.com

Artist: Sebastien Pierre ︎

Curator: Darla Migan ︎