Heads

Papaver Somniferum

Acrylic and oil on panel

24” x 36”

$3600

Keith Perelli

“Restraint” A new Suite of Smaller Portraits

In this suite of new works exploring the figure and imagined space, I was interested in the unseen forces, amalgams of our imagination and meditative states of our own minds at work. In a continued period of polarisation, isolation and reactionary values, I was interested in how we each in our own way find ways to tap into our coping mechanisms and ability to quiet a perceived whirlwind of instability surrounding us. The use of lines, shapes and colors are active in how they surround and intersect the figure.

Like most of my work, I am interested in attempting to visually define for myself the unseen forces of our physical, mental and spiritual experiences in a fantastic manner. In the 90’s I sought to make work that made HIV something that I could see as a physical sculpture so I could better grapple with the threats it posed to my life and mental health as a gay male. I am reminded of my Graduate mentor saying, “It’s interesting, your fears are so deeply felt that your work is a physical manifestation of the unseen.” Perhaps, if I look back over my oeuvre, I can see this from my youth to the present. I seek to define both the beauty and the darkness of our fears and wonder. From the ephemeral nature of something so pleasing as a flower to the vulnerabilities of aging and disease, my work is an attempt to ground me and find understanding.

I also see my work as a practice, a product of my yearning to teach the physical techniques and processes of art making but also the long held power of the visual arts as poetic voice. I hope to inspire the students where I teach. I like to remind them how culturally artistic practice is not only beautiful but necessary. Whether it be a coping mechanism or a pause to share something unique to our experiences, my work helps ground me in a way that words or other actions do not. It is my quiet voice that hopefully creates a moment of pause for some of our shared experiences or questioning of those forces greater than ourselves.

Fences #2

Acrylic on oil on panel

8” x 8”

$800

Homeland, 24" x 36" Acrylic and oil on panel

SOLD

Fences

Acrylic on oil on panel

8” x 8”

$800

Ribbon

4" x 6" Acrylic and oil on panel

600

Last Disco

Last Dance

Acrylic and oil on panel

6” x 6”

$700

Radient

4" x 6" Acrylic and oil on panel

600

Crying Underneath Your Skin

Acrylic and oil on panel

8” x 10”

$1000

Halt

Acrylic and oil on panel

10” x 10”

$1,200

Present

Acrylic and oil on panel

8” x 10”

$1000

Equinox #2, acrylic on panel, 5" x 7"

850

Eclipse #2, acrylic on panel, 5" x 7"

SOLD

Listener, acrylic on panel, 5" x 7"

850

Repose, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 24" x 36"

3200

Home, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 24" x 36"

3400

For this exhibition, I chose to celebrate artists' work featured in the Besthoff collection and public parks and throughways, I hope to pay tribute to artists whose work has crossed over from patrons to the public realm, further engaging our unique city and poetic way of life.

Converge, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 24" x 36"

3400

Blue, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 39 x 40

5,600

"Reign" oil acrylic and paper on wood, 40 x 54

6,500

Ascension, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 32 x 36

private collection

Blue Line, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 32 x 36

5,600

My figure-based work is often a fusion of illusory abstraction and naturalism. I attempt to render the figures as though they were stripped of our ordinary facade of protections such as our physical gestures and emotions but also our clothing and boundaries of space. I am interested in exposing our vulnerabilities but also projecting a sense of strength through subtle and contemplative expressions of the faces and gestures of the figure. It is thought they are stoic even when surrounded by ever shifting planar shapes, lines and bold expressive marks. My current work is the result of years flirting with that abstract process as a force that shifts space, surrounds the figure and has the power to create a tenuous sense of balance. As I slowly began to extract the figure and its dominance within my work, the subjects themselves became quiet veils of their former selves. I liked this subtlety and I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could find new ways of communicating ideas through an almost meditative way of working. I liked how abstraction made me focus on the physicality of the materials while weighing my choices.

I spend hours attempting to create both planar shifts and visually fluid transitions of various scraps of collage that might suggest environments, barriers, escapes for the figurative elements. The sort of obsessive process of shifting pieces for days sometimes results in my final decision to actually glue them in place. I love the infinite variables offered by working in this manner. Perhaps, I could just paint this way but I find the collage process makes me more aware of my choices as an abstract/ figurative painter.

Ascension, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 32 x 48

3,650

The social media portrait series is both a mixture of how people present themselves as profiles and how others bring their own perceptions, expectations and biases to how apps are used. Both a blessing and a curse, Social apps have broadened the ability for the human spirit and sexual ego to both test the waters and communicate in ways that public interactions might not allow in isolated areas. They have also liberated new generations to communicate away from conventional gathering places of the past such as bars, social or sports clubs. I am also interested in the blurring of public and private and how social media has made great strides for activism and organising. There is also exploitation and in some cases greater harm and bullying with media. How has social media liberated the LGBTQ community? And how do we use it to continue the progress of various causes and methods to combat misinformation and discrimination. These images are based on real profile images with the embellishment of nature to suggest flesh and collage elements that might suggest a shield or armour suggesting our self protected nature while being publicly vulnerable on such apps.

Velvet, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 32 x 48

3650

Rei, acryic painted collage paper, prismacolor, nails on wood panel, 32 x 48

SOLD

I am interested in how social media has opened channels of communication for closeted, Bi and transgender communities. Such media beings into question how we present ourselves

through both physical images, profiles, texts and how we interpret such images and words. Users bring their perceptions and biases as they explore and share commonalities of sexual identity and desire. Created from hand painted collage elements, the painting creates the illusion of abstract strokes and movement

that surround and flow through the figure, creating a veil making his physicality and presence more elusive and less stable.

Sweat, From the Blood, Sweat, Tears, Sweat, Blood Series

Acrylic on paper 22 x 30

SOLD

Blood, Sweat, Tears, Sweat, Blood an installation, Acrylic, Prismacolor,, oil on watercolor paper, 22” x 30” each 1200 each

The original installation featured pedestals with pigment, mirrors, vials of sweat, tears and blood. The viewer could peer over the vials to see the reflection of the figure and their own face. Techniques such as wash, scumbling and pigment sprays gave the work a vertically washed effect suggesting a figure disappearing into the surface. I felt like the works spoke for themselves visually as a sort of confrontational but engaging presence to bring the viewer in to the softer side of the portraits creating a visual connection.

Sweat #2, From the Blood, Sweat, Tears, Sweat, Blood Series

Acrylic on paper 22 x 30

1,800

Tears, Blood, Sweat, Tears, Sweat, Blood Series

Acrylic on paper 22 x 30

1,800

Blood #2 From the Blood, Sweat, Tears, Sweat, Blood Series

Acrylic on paper 22 x 30

1,800

Green

Acrylic on panel 5 x 7

POR

I was taught and influenced by the work of my abstract professors at the University of New Orleans in my formative years in college. You can still see a strong reference to this abstract illusory work in the details and planar shifts of shapes within the works or environments.

Red

Acrylic on panel 5 x 7

POR

Amerika

Acrylic on panel 2.75 x 4.25

POR

For Laurie

Acrylic on panel 2.75 x 4.25

POR

In these monochromatic works, the figure literally becomes literal target. Inspired by a fascination with Mikey Mouse ears during my youth, my awareness of my sexuality was always present and seemed to be amplified when I became more attuned to gender roles and what maleness should be. Mickey Mouse more recently became the subject of Disney’s support of diversity and inclusion in the sphere of politics and agendas of conservative “culture wars.” The figures possess both a vulnerability but a glowing superhumanness or presence.

My use of light was also influenced by the Sci-Fi illustrations and book that my parents bought me.