Gaia Collage

Don Perley is a maker of abstract paintings, mixed media pieces and assemblages. He has been making art for over fifty years, in Chicago, in San Francisco, in Philadelphia, and now securely settled in Stamford, Connecticut. Artist Statement: Don Perley’s work is improvisational, layered and complex. Secrets are revealed slowly, both in oil painting and deep relief assemblage. He is immersed in the raw and rough. However, just as in the improvisations of nature seen from a hiking trail, the raw and rough, upon close observation, are also delicate, soothing and healing. Don’s paintings push the eye from one passage to another on a journey of color juxtapositions, while exploiting the physical properties of paint and ink, pushing them to their limit. His assemblage pieces deform familiar raw materials, exposing their essence and possibilities. Ultimately what Don creates are arenas and conditions for colors and materials to display their properties freely and combine in unplanned and joyous ways. His intention is not so much the creation of art but more a search for spontaneous life springing out of improvisations in pure color. This is a fundamentally exuberant enterprise, and the artist sees it as direct painting, direct expression and direct communication.