STATEMENT
James Perkins creates time-based land art installations composed of primary structures in wood and silk. Made on the beach in Fire Island, NY, the work employs a system in nature to explore the beauty and experience of weathering the vicissitudes of life. The “post-totem structures” start outdoors in the language of sculpture and culminate as nonsite wall reliefs with marks made in collaboration with nature. He believes that we all navigate totems and their historical and contemporary values to paint an identity either closer to or further away from his idea of a neutral existence. Growing up in Arkansas and then moving to New York he observed the tribes of the South and those of Wall Street. He studies the manipulation of objects, appearance and context in search of a social neutrality that speaks louder than societal tribal noise. He is interested in our shared beauty. We all live under the sun. Everyone has a horizon. Everyone has a sunset. We all have a body. Everyone dresses. The skin we choose. He seeks modes that embody the spirit of a beautiful neutral existence. The results blur the lines of sculpture and painting, figurative and minimalism, monumental land art and temporary works, masculine and feminine, human intervention and nature. The works initially appear as painted steel, solid wood, or even fiberglass, but upon closer inspection, one sees they are much more delicate. The hollow 2x4 frames are draped and wrapped in silk, semi buried or stacked to create ephemeral monumental works.
EDUCATION
2013, School of Visual Arts, MPS, New York, NY
2000, Yale University, BA, New Haven, CT
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017, Tempus Fugit, NYU The Institute of Fine Arts, New York, NY
2015, Speculation, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014, Ball Until You Fall, Cutting My Ties, WNDO, Venice, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018, Points of Light in a Nocturnal World, curated by John Newsom, Metro Pictures, Brooklyn, NY
2017, Remnants, curated by Lisa Banner, Brooklyn Cluster, Brooklyn, NY
2016, The Weight of My Appearance, Reis Studios, Long Island City, NY
2015, AxA, MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2015, UNICEF NextGen Art Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
2015, MTV RE:DEFINE honors Michael Craig-Martin, curated by Peter Doroshenko and The Future Tense and music curated by Dan Colen & Nate Lowman, Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
2014, MTV RE:DEFINE with Jerry Hall, curated by Peter Doroshenko and The Future Tense and music curated by Richard Phillips, Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
2013, SVA Graduate Exhibition, School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2012, 2x2, Eileen S. Kaminsky Foundation, MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
SELECTED LECTURES
2019, Art Institute of Chicago, Studio Visit series curated by David Getsey
2017, NYU Institute of Fine Arts, Burying Painting: Event Horizon
2015, Yale University, 15-Year Reunion Speaker, Material Perception
2013, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Multidisciplinary Artists: The New Creative Norm
SELECTED RESIDENCIES
2018, Visiting Artist Residency at Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
2018, ATCO Real Estate, Manhattan, NY
2014, SourceRock Partners Residency, Venice, CA
