The De Pree Art Center and Gallery at Hope College will feature “Percept Upon Percept,” an exhibition of paintings by James Perrin, from Friday, Feb. 14, through Thursday, March 12.
Perrin will deliver an artist’s talk on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m. in Cook Auditorium of the De Pree Art Center, with a reception following in the gallery from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The public is invited to the exhibition, artist’s talk and reception. Admission is free.
This exhibition explores the integration and resolution of disharmonious elements relating to themes in painting and its processes: abstraction and representation, surface and illusion, discord and resolution, chaos and structure. Through the use of imagery derived from varying sources related to his life, Perrin explores the themes and how they relate to, and reflect, human existence.
“I approach painting as a self-contained language system,” Perrin explains in the exhibition’s artist’s statement. “I am interested in painting as a mode of communication that transverses time, cultures and fixed languages — as a sensory communicative experience between myself and the viewer.”
“My work is comprised of several methods of painting, weaving together different ideas, frameworks, and strategies. I focus on the expressiveness and possibilities contained in the materials of paint and pictorial construction,” he notes. “My latest work integrates images and ideas derived from retail interiors, Caribbean beaches, fashion, CT scans, medical photographs, passages from paintings by Giotto, Masaccio, Enguerrand Quarton, and Fra Angelico, segments from my previous work, as well as photos from my daily life and travels.”
Perrin received his M.F.A. in painting from Boston University and his B.F.A. from Kansas City Art Institute. His paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S., as well as in Venice, Italy. His work was recently included in “Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century” at the Frist Art Museum and Chrysler Museum of Art. A group of paintings is currently on view at the South Bend Museum of Art until 2021. In 2015, he received a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptures Grant.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college's Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The De Pree Art Center and Gallery is located at 275 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets. The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.