Mark Perlman – Artist News

MARK PERLMAN, Fade, 2019
Encaustic on Panel, 60 x 48 Inches Framed
$9,000

Bay Area based Mark Perlman works in the medium of encaustic: pigment mixed with hot wax, the oldest form of painting in civilization dating back to Egyptian Old Kingdom tombs. The paintings are built up layer over layer to create what the artist calls the underbelly, a luminous field of mid-tone color upon which he composes and builds his imagery. Perlman’s deep fascination with processes of change effected by time and nature’s gradual breaking down of form has developed into a profound meditation on loss and dissolution, restoration and retrieval, and the interaction between mutability and permanence… More »

Most of the people I know have been trying their best to cope with the coronavirus and the isolation. Although I feel fortunate to be living in California and being able to work in my studio most days, I still feel haunted by the reality and pain so many people are facing right now. At times it feels somewhat self indulgent to be painting when the world is facing this virus and our present administration at the same time. My family and painting are a few ways I have to help face the darkness I hear and see through our media. I never like to think of painting as therapy and am not even certain I feel that now. I do know when I work through my process, I find I am able to escape into my subconscious in a way I cannot find in many other ways. It appears most people are gardening, cooking, biking, etc. to find comfort, and I suppose the act of painting is just another way of turning our fears into creative energy.