"UNE LUNE LAVANDE" TESSA PERUTZ: Brussels

Leafing through a photo archive of life experiences, romances and friendships and documentation of the distances traveled. Time is the element removing emotional proximity to the subject. The preliminary drawing functions as memorabilia, a placeholder for the past. A non-descript country or rural environment – this open context provides the viewer with a universal relation to landscape.

 

Forest Canopy at Dusk (La Lune Lavande)

A long drive, no traffic. From the backseat I draw the British countryside at late afternoon. I’ve heard that in near-death experiences one envisions a tunnel with a searing light at the end. The forest canopy forms a cocoon as the sun shifts to moon. The sky is illuminated in an electric carnelian red. The car continues through the passage seamlessly – Karma Solaire.

 

Isabelle’s Hibiscus, Bourgogne (Esprit du Roi Soleil)

Late morning, French countryside. My 30thbirthday, also Paul’s memorial. Shared glasses of pastis. Soccer matches shouted in Verlan. Drawing his mother’s hibiscus flowers, which bloom in late summer for one day. Timing of flowering is remarkable; uncanny & supernatural. Hibiscus is consumed widely as a powerful tea, lauded for its superlative health benefits and regeneration of cell structure. In preparation for the exhibition I drink hibiscus tea daily.

 

British Landscape with Mirrored Reflection (Infinite Cycle of Life)

Sunday, Kent. Quietly observing a small lake or large pond. The land above is mirrored in the reflection of the water below. The central horizon line represents a lifetime. Land above denotes afterlife, the water below signifies life before birth. Borderless and symmetrical, the patterning is repetitive and cyclical. Represents the limitlessness nature of the unknown, and our collective inability to recall past lives or predict future selves.

 

Mountainside Landscape at Clambin (Various Languages, Multi-Green) 

A painter’s lexicon of nature’s alphabetical forms and gestures. A Swiss scene, composed of individual parts that seek to emulate or mimic an urban language most similar to graffiti. Immediacy in mark-making originates in plein air drawing, then projected onto canvas and painted. The 6th painted impression of this image. Color most closely relates to Pop Art or common advertising aesthetics.

 

Karma Solaire #3 (Postcard, SF Bay) 

A motif of setting sun that evokes general feelings of nostalgia and remembrance. Shadow as an echo signifies ripple effect of loss. Stamp or postcard frame functions as common object representing the shared experience of memorialization of person and place. Explores the spiritual and cyclical nature of life, utilizes the sun’s trajectory to parallel humankind’s entrance-and-exit into the universe. Palette is reminiscent of Belgian interiors and Art Nouveau textiles.

 

Bois de la Cambre in Neon (After DR)

Neo-Geo electric illumination, lighting feels artificial and backlit. Includes nods to other contemporary painters who subvert typified ideals of “good taste” in palette choice, creating visual dissonance. Has a multi-clash effect due to layered drawings, sense of depth is skewed and most challenging compared to other works in exhibition. In comparison to others, is also most easily recognized as Belgium.

 

English Landscape with Artist’s Hands and Split Sky

Seeks to include a specific interest in interjecting the artist’s hand or evidence of physical presence within the work. Hands as tools that produce the works, explores tenderness and questions youthfulness / the process of aging. Explores privilege inherent in art making. The very nature of the hand functions as self-portrait of the artist.