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Jonathan Perlowsky is an artist whose creations can most accurately be described as New Gothic.
'Whatever the genre of his art, be it representational or not, there is a dark beauty and cinematic drama which courses through it. It's not everyone's 'cup of tea' but there's no denying its unique presence. I suspect I don't fully understand either Jonathan or his work but I feel compelled to try.'
Michelle Gerskovich, a friend, on Jonathan.
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three christmases:
Below: Transylvanian santa and navajo christmas. 2011. Acrylic, lacquer on birch with antler. 36 x 80 x 5".
navajo christmas is explained on the page entitled Recent paintings II.
malibu christmas (Cyan, Red and Green). 2014. a resolute belief in art’s ability to transport one to magical places: ‘won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?’
Below: critical acclaim and Jonathan's Sojourn and the doppelganger.
Sojourn. 1976. Acrylic on canvas. 68 x 160.5".
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the doppelganger. 17 september, 2017. Digital rendering.
Treasure in the Cat's Den. 2013. Acrylic and piano lacquer on birch. 80 x 56".
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BIOGRAPHY: As Prefaced Jonathan's 2009 exhibit at the Morrison Gallery (Courtesy of The Morrison Gallery- for subsequent reviews See: Recent Media).
Contemporary artist Jonathan Perlowsky has had a career marked by constant experimentation that spans four decades and diverse genres.
On July 25, his reinvention of an early minimalist phase combining Acrylic, lacquer, metal and plastic film will be shown at The Morrison Gallery in Kent, CT.
Perlowsky grew up in Litchfield County, CT. He began painting while in his teens, between undergraduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and Wesleyan University plus stints working for his father, founder of an estate services firm with clients from the New York worlds of music, theater and the arts.
This exposure broadened with a move to Dublin, Ireland where working on The Arts in Ireland magazine provided additional incentive to launch Jonathan's career upon return to the states. By the early seventies the artist was producing nonrepresentational works on raw silk stretched over glass (Directly Below). After moving through a brief period of geometrically shaped canvases using restricted color palettes for a trompe l'oeil effect Perlowsky shifted to actual three-dimensional Structured Canvases.
1973: While in Ireland The postmodernism of the conceptual artist and editor of The Arts in Ireland magazine Charles Merrill, as well as that of the emerging artist David Jones who had recently adopted the surname Bowie, had great effect on Jonathan. An Artwork Must Be Provocateur, Inquisitor, Storyteller. (Bio Continued After Illustrations Below)
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Charles Merrill, Editor Of The Arts in Ireland Felt That his magazine with subscribers spanning the globe had supplanted painting as a more effective way to reach people with new ideas and concepts.What distinguished these two artists is that they sought to influence the culture; not merely decorate it.
At right: Violet over Red Violet. 1975. Watercolor, acrylic and dye on silk. 25 x 40" (From Jonathan's first professional one-man exhibit).
In a span of three years (1975-1978): from the 25 inches in height of the work illustrated above to the nearly 20 feet in length of kashmir.
Kashmir. 1978. Acrylic on canvas. 68 x 205 x 4.75 - 2.25".
tangerine. 1979. alkyd on birch. 75 x 25”.
After spending the mid-seventies awash in grays and white jonathan immersed himself color beginning with works such as tangerine.
biography. resumed:
By The Late Seventies Jonathan Was Producing works in white created with canvas stretched over elaborate mahogany forms. Recalls Perlowsky, "These were so complex to design and create that they took months to complete". The artist then shifted to standing glass panels, producing works he characterized as "Bordering on nothingness".
After a debut show at the Washington (CT) Art Association in 1975 Perlowsky, then 23, began receiving recognition. this culminated in two solo exhibits in 1981 at the Westbroadway Gallery, one of the first breakaway venues to usher in the vibrant SoHo art scene in Manhattan. These were the first of five solo exhibits there. Others followed at the Horizon And Erotics galleries in NYC and Atria gallery in Hartford, CT.
It was during this period that Perlowsky, living and painting in New York City and showing primarily at the Westbroadway Gallery, incorporated the use of mirrors, glitter and Day-Glo pigment within his compositions. this foreshadowed a genre that continues today in the work of such artists as Anselm Reyle and Imi Knoebel. (Continued)
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The Raven. 1982. Lacquer on silver mirror. 75 x 25".
Following the closure of the Westbroadway Gallery Perlowsky became steadily more reclusive. He moved to his Litchfield County home where he has worked since continuing to experiment in the seclusion of his studio.
"I recalled a critic liking my use of color but then overheard him asking: But can he draw?" says Perlowsky. His answer: The vampyres. metaphoric and ephemeral, life-size, representational depictions on misted white mirrors in dry pigments such as eye shadow and blush. They were so intricate and detailed, so time-consuming to produce that the artist created only four over a 19-year period effectively strangling his career. one such example, the vampyre’s lair, is illustrated directly below. (Continued)
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The Vampyre's Lair. 1990. Eye Shadow on misted white mirror. 36 x 80".
Two years ago an increasingly restless Perlowsky unexpectedly inspired by simple paint sample booklets revisited his early abstract work employing stripes. He began experimenting with monumental birch panels in parallel bands of controlled yet vibrant color done with multiple coats of lacquer laboriously hand-sanded and polished to achieve a smooth, glass-like sheen. In his quest for extraordinary surface quality with ordinary materials Perlowsky would on occasion stretch plastic film over panels creating an effect that evokes in his description, "The delicate surface of water".
This upcoming Morrison Gallery exhibit signals Perlowsky's return to active exhibiting after a two-decade-plus absence from the contemporary art scene.
Fin.
Monumental wooden panels: Looking for Water. 2013. Piano lacquer on birch. 80 x 168". After the vampyres a reaffirmation of life and vibrancy. Contrast this with Cerulean (Directly below) from 1979 which also alludes to water being synonymous with life.
I can't live in this cage/I can't eat this candy. To the ends of the earth/To this pain in my head. The look in your eyes/That never means never. The dawn's early light/Baby dumb is forever. I'm looking for water.
Through the years: Past and present intertwined. Cerulean. (Above. 1979. Acrylic and bronze on Wood. 25 x 72") presages The drowned man (Below) by over three decades.
The drowned man. 2015. Digital rendering.
The color and the shape: A number of these works typified by The drowned man are presented on the page entitled Infinity.
Below: Wuthering Heights/Nicholas and Alexandra (Upon Butterflies) 2013. Acrylic and lacquer on mirror. 80 x 60".
Below: Lotus. 1980. Lacquer on glass. May be presented with or without birch plinth. With: 31 x 91.5 x 15.75".
Without (illustrated): 31 x 84 x 2.25". From Jonathan’s first Manhattan exhibit. On the wings of an angel: Color freed the canvas.
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after the irascible ship of dreams, (second above: 1981. acrylic, oil, lacquer, glitter on bronze and silver mirror. 106” on diagonal)
dorothy’s acid oz aka ‘dorothy’s road to oz’, directly above, (1982. lacquer on silver mirror. 25 x 75”) heralded a return to a more formal look.
below: myopia. 2014. digital rendering.
Please continue to the menu at the Bottom of this page. The Pages entitled home/.sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band’ illustrated and recent media Must be accessed on the menu at page top: (Home Work.Vampyres.About Recent Media).
An index to the sites pages (17) may be found by scrolling to near bottom of the Homepage.
Below: success and sorrow. 1985. pastel on paper. each 29 x 23".
dietrich: success.
Dietrich: sorrow.
the history of everything. 24 february, 2019.
Me and caw-caw. 22 - 23 February, 2019.
A buried culture [the idiot savant]. 2015. digital rendering.
page ten of seventeen.