Sarah Perry: Within the Walls

August 2015

Sarah Perry: Within the Walls
Exhibition Dates: September 12 – October 23, 2015
Artist Reception: Saturday, September 12, 2015, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm; Tuesday by appointment
Public Contact: 310-836-9055

Koplin Del Rio is pleased to announce an installation: Within the Walls by Sarah Perry, the artist’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery since 1992. The show features a collection of sculpture completed in the past five years including an array of wall and freestanding art works. The pieces, executed in a myriad of found and fabricated mediums, range in scale from several inches up to 8ft.

Each unique piece in the exhibition is meticulously created in a seamless presentation of indistinguishable yet familiar materials that were found, reinvented and fabricated at the hand of the artist. Perry’s palette isn’t constrained by any man-made or natural material. Thus, her sculptures are formed from her own distinct visual language, based on forgotten histories and the artist’s constant exploration of our universe, both terrestrial and celestial. A Sarah Perry exhibition is an otherworldly journey that engages the viewer in a multifaceted and enduring way.

A constant observer and appreciator of all manners of life forms and their patterns, Perry is particularly fascinated by the fundamental and oft-overlooked. Whether Perry is studying the mesmerizing path of a honeybee or the ordinary task of turning on a home faucet, her imagination opens a world of limitless visual possibilities. Each enigmatic artwork is a stepping stone along a path of discovery.

Artist’s note:
Sometimes the things hidden within are only betrayed by a disturbance on the surface, by a shape turning below the ripples. Inside the dark of a wall, there is meaning to the hive's motion toward the light. We may have forgotten the language, but we can see the sign of honey dripping from the smoldering wall socket.

In my current body of work, some themes remain familiar while others are new; from reflections on the Moon, to warnings from the unconscious, from humor in old age to alternatives about what happens to us when we die. There is empathy for creatures and their human counterparts, both distilled down to their essence of hair and teeth. We are all family here anyway, reveling in the same remaining splendor. Howling and reaching, as we go down the same path within arms length of each other.
– Sarah Perry

Sarah Perry has been exhibiting her sculptures professionally since 1983. She has been in over 150 shows including 15 solo exhibits and a retrospective at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Perry has received awards from the James Irvine Foundation - 2007, The Alliance of Artists Communities Visions From the New California Award - 2007, City of Los Angeles Grant for Individual Artists, C.O.L.A. 2000-2001, and California Community Foundation, Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, Individual Artists Fellowship - 2000. She has taught undergraduate as well as graduate level sculpture at Otis Art Institute led workshops and lectured extensively at Museums and Universities including Claremont Graduate School and USC. The Frostig Collection, City of Albuquerque Library and private patrons have commissions and her pieces reside in numerous collections.

For further information or photos, please contact Ronald De Angelis at (310) 836-9055.