DCP (David Cunningham Projects) is pleased to announce FLUX, a solo exhibition of new and recent work by Los Angeles based artist Joan Perlman. The exhibition includes paintings on duralar, canvas and aluminum and a three channel video installation with sound composed by Steven Dye. FLUX will be on view from May 22nd – June 28th, 2008.
For over a decade Perlman has been drawn to the haunting volcanic landscapes of Iceland, finding in them a strong parallel with her own aesthetic concerns. A long series of dreams in the early nineties sparked a fascination with this remote, mysterious place. Iceland’s spare beauty, vivid colors, restless geology and violent geothermal effects have proven to be an enduring source of inspiration and a profound influence on her studio practice. Perlman has traveled to Iceland many times since her first visit in 1995. She had a solo exhibition at Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art in Iceland in 2007 and will return to the island this summer to the Baer Art Center, a new international artist’s residency.
Perlman’s latest body of work finds its source in Iceland’s glacial rivers. The paintings included in this exhibition are an exploration of the shifting light, colors and energy patterns created by these powerful waters as they intersect with the land. Long interested in the metamorphic and metaphysical aspects of landscape and geology Perlman’s paintings eschew mere documentation, moving beyond realism and transcending metaphor to tackle nature at its most elemental. Employing an often unpredictable process of under painting, dripping, and pouring, Perlman’s methods echo the transformative flow of the landscape and the rivers themselves, the layers of paint and medium creating luminous surfaces of texture and depth. As aptly stated in The New York Times: “Joan Perlman’s paintings of receding glaciers in Iceland are sensuous and lovely. They capture the mutability of the Icelandic landscape using a multilayered process of painting and pouring acrylic paint and ink on canvas. The artist refers to them as “abstracted stories of personal experience,” a description that nicely squares with their ethereal qualities.” *
Also included in the exhibition is “From Ice” Рa new three channel projected video installation by the artist with sound composed by Steven Dye. Dye is a San Francisco based sound artist who has worked extensively with the concept of place and water to create pieces for performance projects and film. First shown at Hafnarborg the use of video by Perlman marks a new chapter in her work. The installation depicts several glacial rivers Рprimarily the turbulent river Hverfisfljót whose source is the massive icecap Vatnajökull. “FROM ICE” is a graphic representation of the rivers’ restless surfaces and light, impacted by weather, location and time. Empty frames alternate with images of water, the rivers disappear in and out of darkness. The video is a meditation on both the passage and constancy of natural forces and time.
*The New York Times, April 27, 2008 “Nature’s Struggle to Survive,” by BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO
An exhibition catalogue produced for the exhibition at Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art in Iceland – including writing contributions by Lawrence Rinder, Brad Leithauser and Anne Brydon – will be available at DCP.
Joan Perlman
Joan Perlman lives and works in Los Angeles. She earned her BFA at the CCA in Oakland, CA and her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. She has exhibited widely in the US, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Santa Fe. Her work was included in “Strange Weather” – the inaugural exhibition at DCP, and is currently on view at Wave Hill in New York as part of the group show “Sound the Alarm: Landscapes in Distress”. Perlman is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Durfee Foundation in Los Angeles. Residency grants include the Reykjavík Art Museum/SIM, Santa Fe Art Institute, Ucross Foundation and Djerassi Foundation. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Achenbach Foundation) and Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, France/Terra Foundation for the Arts. Perlman is represented in Los Angeles by the Jancar Gallery, where her work will be shown in June.
For more information/ images please contact
info@davidcunninghamprojects.com | tel:- 415.341.1538 | www.davidcunninghamprojects.com
