The faces he depicts are distinctive and yet also unrecognisable and Pedro is able to portray something deeper through his paintings - a sense of loneliness, isolation, anticipation, love and sometimes even humour. We find ourselves relating closely to those depicted, despite not knowing who they are. Pedro gives us just enough to have a sense of their characters, but also allows us to explore our own narrative.

Contemporary British artist Reggie Pedro established a name and following in the art world after creating a number of cover-art albums and singles for the Mercury Prize winning band Gomez in the late 90s. Cover-art that lead to the ‘best illustrator within the music industry’ award in 2000. In 2007 we were privileged to work with Pedro to release a series of limited print editions that were taken from three of these now iconic record covers. The prints were featured in Eyestorm’s ‘Cover-up’ exhibition that year. Sadly, Reggie Pedro passed away in 2007 at the age of just 35 and not long after this collaboration - a huge loss to the art world. We are extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Pedro, and now very proud to represent his work on behalf of his estate. As part of this collaboration, we can introduce the Fire Love paintings; work which have not been exhibited before.

Fire Love is a series of four paintings by Reggie Pedro likely created around 2001, but utilising elements and motifs that can be found in his sketchbooks as early as 1997. The four paintings are portrayed in Pedro’s recognisable artistic style using layering of bold flat colours, with figurative sketches, large text, and areas of expressive brushwork. While the paintings seem part of the same series, it is unclear whether Pedro meant the paintings to be exhibited as a series of four, or if they are studies and developments of a theme which the artist was exploring over time.

In each of the four paintings the letters ‘FIRE LOV’ has been scratched into the paint probably using the back of a paintbrush, and sit alongside the occasional appearance of other words and numbers. In all of the paintings the lettering is depicted in the same way - the ‘O’ filled in a deep orange-red hue, the ‘V’ in gold. This motif is also seen in one of Pedro’s sketchbooks from the period of 1997-98 implying that this theme had been explored over many years before the final paintings were produced.

While the reference to ‘Fire Love’ remains a mystery, we do know that Pedro often quoted poems and song lyrics in his works. The words are also reinforced in the paintings by the warm red hues and the inclusion of the closely paired figures in two of the paintings. What is clear is that these paintings were intended to be positive explorations of love and intimacy. In an exhibition of Pedro’s work in 2001, he described one of the paintings as “…giving a glimpse of the happiness found by young people within their inner city lives… a contrasting image to the negative portrayal of young people we often come across in the media.”

In the two larger Fire Love paintings the figures depicted appear in an intimate moment. In one, the female figure looks intently at the male while he looks shyly down at the ground. In another, we see just the backs of two figures, appearing to talk to each other in a quiet moment. We can imagine them sitting on a park bench, deep in conversation, and as viewers we are allowed just a subtle glimpse into their world.

Two smaller paintings in the series appear more abstract in style with the text standing out boldly on the canvas. Here, there is no representation of figures, but perhaps Pedro is hinting at them through his mark-making. For example, in one painting there is an abstracted blue image sitting beneath the text, which could be interpreted as a figure upside-down, as if it is reflected in water.

Across all four paintings we can appreciate the expressive brushwork that Pedro employs, giving the paintings unique depth, texture and variation. Looking closely you can see the under-layers - hints of bright orange, turquoise and blue subtly coming through beneath the more earthy tones on the surface. In some cases Pedro also uses collage and mixed media, as seen in the long orange strip which has been layered over the canvas of one of the paintings. Through the use of these diverse artistic techniques we can admire the delicate balance Pedro finds between the figurative and abstract, the graphic and painterly, his observation and our imagination.

You can find the four painting in the series, Fire Love, onReggie Pedro’s artist page here.