KEITH
PERELLI Visual
Artist
See current work at the following link
www.flickr.com/photos/perelli
BIOGRAPHY SELECTED EXHIBITS ABOUT THE ARTIST SELECTED IMAGES
Detail of "Shield" From the Homeland series, oil on aluminum
and rivets
This work features over 300
portraits of deceased soldiers from the
Iraq war as of September 11, 2003. In this work I sought to bring a
face to American casualties occurring
daily in what I believe to be a rush to war. I downloaded the photos
from CNN and the Atlanta Constitution for
images
and profiles of each soldier. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/index.html
"Random Profile" From the
Homeland series, oil on wood panel, 10" x 10"
each, 2003
"Random Profile," features
paintings with fragments of faces arranged
in random order, a reference, perhaps, to the way Homeland Security
laws break down identities into fragments of a bureaucratic mosaic that
even
the best lawyers find almost impenetrable." - D. Eric Bookhardt "Valley
of the Shadow," Gambit Weekly, Nov. 18, 2003 p. 39
Suggested Links for this Artist
D.O.C.S. Gallery, New Orleans Richard
Nesbit, Director
http://www.docsgallery.com
Found Gallery, Los
Angeles
Jonny Coleman, Director
http://www.foundla.com
http://www.nocca.com
HOME
BIOGRAPHY
"Passenger" Three
works from a series of eight, from the Homeland series, oil on
aluminum,
rivets, arched wood
mounting, 19" x 24" each 2003
"Presumably
these are the real or imagined visages ot those who
directly experienced the 9/11 slaughter. In the Passenger series, based
on the riders abroad the fated aircraft, the visages are painted on
riveted bits of sheet metal, suggesting fragments of airplane. The
faces are all very interesting, evoking a real lives rendered with a
ghostly
nobility." - D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit weekly
Keith A. Perelli b. 1968
BA, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 1991
MFA, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 1994
Position: Drawing and Painting Instructor, NOCCA or New Orleans Center
for Creative Art 1998-present
Mr. Perelli has worked in
printmaking, sculpture and
installation. For
the past ten years he has focus his energies on drawing and
painting. His work explores personal, social and political ideas
through a
combination of realism and symbolism. From issues related to the
prevention and spread of HIV/AIDS to more recent developments in the
"War on
Radical Islamic Terrorism," Perelli's work seeks to communicate on a
cerebral level involving the humanness and universality to these
issues.
He has taught art at; the
University of Cincinnati as part of
his Graduate Fellowship 1992-94, the Art Academy of Cincinnati and The
New School in Cincinnati to grades 1-8 1994-96, and YA/YA Inc. or
Young Aspirations/Young Artists where he acted as the Studio Manager
for grades 9-college level students 1996-98 before
teaching drawing and painting at New Olreans Center for Creative
Art.
NOCCA is a state run
program working with exceptionally talented
9-12 students
pursuing higher education in the arts. "My main objective as a
teacher," says Perelli, "is to share my passion for the process of
making art through
art history, technical handling of media, experimentation, and in
giving students ownership of their ideas."
Mr. Perelli has exhibited his
work both internationally and in the US.
He has participated in over 40 exhibitions including invitationals,
group exhibitions and contests since 1991. He participates in the
Annual NOCCA Faculty Exhibition as well as bi-annual one person
exhibitions at D.O.C.S. Gallery in New Orleans http://docsgallery.com .
Perelli has received grants
from Liquitex Incorporated 1991, The NOCCA
Institute 1993 and the Louisiana Division of the Arts 1998, 1999,2000,
2003 and 2004. He received a "Graduate Fellowship" from
the
University of Cincinnati 1992-94, Foundation Ratti's "Advanced Course
in the Visual Arts," 1997 taught by visiting artist Alan
Kaprow in Como, Italy , and a "Louisiana Division of the Arts
Fellowship," 2000.
HOME
SELECTED
EXHIBITS
"Tower of Babel" From the
Architects
of Disaster series,
encaustic and oil on wood, 1" to 4" wide each, 2004
In its final presentation of 5
stacked columns featuring over 60
portraits of imagined political figures, namely those in Washington
D.C., were precariously stacked to suggest the political division and
instability of US foreign policy in the wake of developing terrorist
threats.
2007 Opening September 8th "Katrina
Works" Found Gallery,
Los Angeles, CA
"Katrina: Catastrophy and Catharsis," Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center,
Curated by Arthur Roger, Colorado Springs, CO
2006 "Empire," D.O.C.S. Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
"Culture of Queer," Leslie Lohman Gallery,
Curated by David Rubin, Soho, New York
2005
"Culture of Queer," Contemporary
Arts Center, Curated by David Rubin, New Orleans, LA
2004
"University of New Orleans Alumni
Works on Paper," Curated by Doyle Gertejensen, Innsbruck , Austria
"NOCCA Faculty Exhibition," Kirschman
Art Space, New
Orleans, LA
2003
"Riverfest Exhibition," Alexandria
Museum of Art,
Alexandria, LA
"Structures and Homeland Series," D.O.C.S.
Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
"Louisiana Artists," 1st Place Award, Louisiana
State University,
Juror, Robert Warrens, Baton Rouge, LA
2002
"NOCCA Faculty Exhibition," Kirschman
Art Space, New
Orleans, LA
2001
"Limbo Series," D.O.C.S.
Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
"Vaclav Student and Faculty Exchange
Exhibition, Vaclav
School,
Prague, Czechoslovakia
2000 "NOCCA Faculty Exhibition," Kirshman Art Space, New
Orleans, LA
"D.O.C.S. Gallery Group Exhibition," D.O.C.S. Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
1999
"Our Father's Gifts," D.O.C.S.
Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
"Louisiana Invitational, Deborah Haas juror, Contemporary
Art Center,
New Orleans
1997 "Untitled Exhibition," D.O.C.S. Gallery, New
Orleans, LA
"Foundation Ratti Alan Kaprow
Invitational Exhibition, Via
Farini Gallery, Curated
by Alan Kaprow, Milan,
Italy
"Foundation Ratti Course Exhibition, Ex
Church of Francesco,
Como, Italy
1996 "Create and Collect,"
Curated by University of Cincinnati Faculty, Cincinnati, OH
"29th Anniversary Exhibition, Contemporary
Art Center, New Orleans, LA
1994 "Myso-Physio-Grams New
Works," Insitu Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
"Myso-Physio-Grams MFA Exhibition," Tangeman Gallery,
University of Cincinnati, OH
"DAAP Works," Wolfson Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
HOME
ABOUT THE
ARTIST
"Splenden's Lottery" From
the Limbo series, oil on
wood, 36" x
36" 2000
On
Communication-
Through my work I hope to communicate a human connection to the
events, issues and emotions
that shape our lives and world. While my work has become more
politically motivated over the past three years, I still feel a need to
create visual images that speak beyond
the relevance of today. I have explored disease, religion, human
struggle, weakness and power through mostly figurative work or work
that relates to the body. I try to find connections between the
past and
present as they relate to a vision of the future.
On Influences-
I have always been drawn to
artists whose work deals with the
figure. Deep at the core of my interest in technique and
narrative or genre painting are the Masters such as Caravaggio,
Rembrant, De La Tour, Degas, Monet,
Vulliard, Bonnard, Turner, Ensor, and Sargent. These are just a
few of my favorites. I try to study their uses of layering,
color,
shape, glazing and palettes as I make decisions in my own work.
My Favorite artist is EdgarDegas. I believe his modern approach to
balancing detail with areas of
shape and color are admirable for his time in history. His
"incomplete" images allow us to peer through the layers to the under
painting thus
recording a selective approach to what is truly important to him as an
artist in capturing the essence of his subject..
Some of my favorite
contemporary artists dealing with the human form
are Kiki Smith, Rebecca Horn, Lucian Freud, Enrique Martinez Celaya,
and Odd Nerdrum. Other artists of particular interest are James
Turrell, Sol Lewitt, Jonathan Borofsky, Richard Johnson, Gerhard Richter
and Richard Diebenkorn to name
a few.
On Process-
I most often work from my
imagination and observation. In order
to do this, I
spend a great deal of time studying the people around me and record my
observations in my sketchbook. My favorite part of the
creation
process is drawing, brainstorming and experimenting with
media to find the tools that best communicate my ideas in a visual
form. It is
important
to me to ask what materials, techniques, palette and manner of
presentation best suit what I want to suggest visually. The bulk
of my work is
planned in my sketches however, I only use them as a guide to the
creative processes that come alive with the physicality of the act of
art
making. It is important for me to make "good and bad" work in order
to
find what it is that I truly want to express to my audience.
-Keith Perelli
contact me through the
D.O.C.S. gallery link listed above
SELECTED
IMAGES
Right: "Arbor" oil on canvas, from the Structures series, 36" x 48" 2002
"Gorgeously haunting paintings such as 'Arbor,' which seamlessly
combines classical and contemporary art, have made Keith Perelli, 35, a
Crescent City Master." - Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune,
Oct/30/03 p. 13 and 16
Left: "Thatch" oil on canvas, from the Structures series, 36" x 48" 2002
Thatch refers to "primitive" roofing materials used to protect humans
from the elements. Here I sought to create conical structures
which resemble "Weapons of Mass Destruction" or missile like
shapes. The Poppies refer to Afghanistan's main economic
agricultural crop, Opium.
Right: "Relieving the
Sore
Minds Quiet Mouths" oil
on canvas, from the Our Father's
Gifts series, 5' x 7'
1998 This work was a part of a series
exploring my families relationship to religion and god after a tragic
hunting accident took the life of my father. Loosing a loved one under
such unannounced circumstances makes one examine his or her beliefs and
actions throughout the process of healing. It was this event that
changed my life and heightened my sensitivity to the death of the
victims of
9/11, US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the countless
thousands of civilians in those war torn nations. One might leave this
world in an
instant, but for those left behind it takes a lifetime of questioning
as to why they left us so tragically.
Left: "Sway" oil on canvas, from the Structures series, 36" x 48" 2001
This was my first painting created after 9/11. A series of graphite
drawings preceded the Structures
paintings focusing on
the World Trade Center and human forms intertwined. The Structures
series features architectural elements such as girder and beams in the
form of lines. I tried to create a fragile envelope of both metal and
flesh.
HOME