London’s Stephen Friedman Gallery is set to offer art enthusiasts a vibrant and dynamic exhibition experience. Run For Your Life!, the first solo exhibition by Franco-Senegalese artist Alexandre Diop at the gallery, opens on September 18 and runs until November 1, 2025. This exhibition brings Diop’s interdisciplinary and innovative artistic vision to London’s art scene.
Stories Woven with Objects: “Object-Images”
Alexandre Diop describes his works as “object-images,” an approach that challenges the traditional boundaries of art. He combines found and recycled materials—such as scrap metal, wood, leather, and fabric—with classical techniques like oil painting. Collected from junkyards, city streets, and abandoned buildings, these materials undergo an intensive process of layering, burning, tearing, stapling, and collaging onto wooden panels. The resulting works exist at the intersection of painting, sculpture, and relief.
Diop’s meticulous approach demonstrates that art can be not only a visual but also a tactile experience. He explains his creative process: “I seek risk and experimentation, and that’s the path that allows me to innovate. I destroy, move forward, and transform. I create hybrid works that follow their own rules.”
Diop’s mixed-media works engage with profound themes such as history, metaphorical archaeology, and socio-political change. Drawing on his experiences as a dancer, musician, and visual artist, he brings a multidisciplinary perspective to his creations. His works leave a deep instinctual impact while speaking a formally innovative language, exploring the relationships between forms, lines, and colors to craft powerful visual narratives.
Run For Your Life! will cement Alexandre Diop’s status as a rising talent in the art world, offering audiences an exhibition that prompts reflection on not only what art looks like but also how it feels.
