San Francisco Bay area artist Jennifer Perlmutter takes mixed-media to a highly sophisticated level with her stunningly intricate creations on wood and canvas.
Jennifer combines aspects of her childhood spent in Napa, California, with urban elements inspired by her delight in the modern metropolises of Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. The skillful layering of these two diverse themes results in truly captivating abstract art, some of which has even appeared in feature films and TV shows such as Brothers and Sisters, The Closer, and Heroes.
Take a look at Castle in the Sky below. . .
Jennifer sets the scene with a wide expanse of blue sky on the left, contrasting both emotionally and visually with the light-polluted, dim red sky of the modern industrial city on the right.
A cool wind threatens to sweep the cityscape away with one effortless gust of fresh air, yet that tall dark tower stands against it, blocking natural light from the buildings below. The proportions of this painting are perfect. . . there is highly dramatic conflict between the two worlds depicted, yet I discover I do not have to choose between city or the sky—there’s just the right amount of both.
This next painting, Build, is an intense creation derived from countless small squares. Red and gray lines form a grid over which spindly wires and wooden square pieces continue the theme at a three-dimensional level.
The accompanying black hues create additional depth to all those little painted squares, building them up until they take on the form of three-dimensional boxes. The stacked wooden pieces and wobbly wires tied together in the middle protrude outward, reminding me of a bow and ribbon decorating the top of a wrapped present.
Because Jennifer’s other artwork is more loose and ephemeral, this intentionally rigid piece makes me appreciate the deliberate brush strokes and calculated placement of each object.
Lastly, in Awaking (seen below) an unidentifiable object, sharply defined, breaks through a cotton-soft layer of blue and blush colors.
To me, the foreground color scheme symbolizes a dreamy subconscious in which the mind below is struggling to awake. Through the haze of the dream, where I can’t really make sense of anything, a clearer picture struggles to break through. However, the world around me will only make sense and come to fruition once I completely wake up and become fully cognizant of the real world.
Jennifer’s website has plenty more equally intriguing mixed media pieces that you won’t want to miss. Check it out now!