Open Studios

Malcolm Peacock

A brown-skinned person lounges on the floor of a cluttered studio.
My name is Malcolm Peacock and I'm an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The last few summers I've spent in the Pacific Northwest in Portland, Oregon, but also taking trips out to the coastline of Oregon, running in relay races that stretch from Mount Hood, Oregon to Seaside, Oregon, and really becoming immersed in the sort of environments where Black folks are seldom and rarely appear. I'm particularly interested in the physical, mental, emotional benefits of places with large open space that maybe urban sites don't have as much access to.
<p>Malcolm Peacock<em>, Next in line at the top of the valley, his spine bent forward as he surrendered to his choices</em>, 2023. Photo: Mario Gallucci. Courtesy the artist</p>

Malcolm Peacock, Next in line at the top of the valley, his spine bent forward as he surrendered to his choices, 2023. Photo: Mario Gallucci. Courtesy the artist

Some of my work requires math and planning to create gradients and balances between colors.
<p>Malcolm Peacock, (detail) <em>Next in line at the top of the valley, his spine bent forward as he surrendered to his choices</em>, 2023. Photo: Mario Gallucci. Courtesy the artist</p>

Malcolm Peacock, (detail) Next in line at the top of the valley, his spine bent forward as he surrendered to his choices, 2023. Photo: Mario Gallucci. Courtesy the artist

I believe in art as a form of portal making that can serve as a platform for proposing different ways of being in the world that are not in line, or following structures that are already predisposed, or given to us as people in the world.