Temoa (2023) by Pedro Reyes anchors an outdoor area of Pompey, a property in Jamaica owned by Diplo.
Photo: DEPASQUALE + MAFFINI
Diplo Shares His Personal Connection with a Pedro Reyes Sculpture
Thomas Wesley Pentz, the DJ and producer better known by his stage name, installed the towering Brutalist work at his Jamaican retreat
The first time I saw Pedro Reyes’s work was on Instagram. I noticed some of his smaller sculptures, and then I came across articles about the house he built in Coyoacán, Mexico. I love his use of concrete there, and we share the same affinity for Brutalism. His place is a lot like what I built here in Jamaica with stone and poured concrete.
Diplo. Photo: ADAM ELMAKIAS
So I got in touch with Lisson Gallery, which represents him, and thought this totemic piece was so badass. It looks like something that’s half Mayan, half junkyard, and just fits my property so well. I knew it would look awesome in water, so we transformed a little corner that we didn’t have a use for. There are lily pads, and one little fish lives there. We have no idea where he came from.
Temoa (2023) by Pedro Reyes anchors an outdoor area of Pompey, a property in Jamaica owned by Diplo. Photo: DEPASQUALE + MAFFINI
I don’t own a lot of sculptures—I have two of Pedro’s smaller pieces, a bronze jackfruit by Veronica Ryan that I bought walking around Art Basel, and then a lot of little ones in the library that came from here in Jamaica—but I wanted one big, striking artwork. The red-ocher color, the roughness, it looks a million years old. It really feels like the work belongs here.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Winter Issue in the section In Focus. Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: Temoa (2023) by Pedro Reyes anchors an outdoor area of Pompey, a property in Jamaica owned by Diplo.
Photo: DEPASQUALE + MAFFINI
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