Joe Peragine’s formidable artistic talents are once again on display at Marcia Wood Gallery from December 2 to January 13, 2024, in an exhibition titled ‘Low Anchored Cloud.’ This title is derived from the eponymous poem by Henry David Thoreau, which evokes a misty landscape — a ‘Dew-cloth, dream-drapery’— a transcendental place where animals are hidden in boggy labyrinths and among banks of flowers. The water, represented by the low mist, is vital to all life but can sometimes obscure our awareness of our inherent interconnectedness with nature.
Known for infusing dark humor into diverse subjects, such as tanks, wrestlers, taxidermy, and dioramas, Joe Peragine’s latest creations explore the themes of life and death through two distinct bodies of work. The exhibition is framed by contrasting visual expressions that delve into the complexities of everyday existence, both its inception and its conclusion, within intricate and captivating paintings.
Peragine’s new works in the ongoing series “After the Hunt” depict dreamy abstract landscapes wherein one may glimpse a hare, or sometimes deer, hidden in the foliage. The background of loosely rendered flowers, grasses and bugs have a flattened repetitive design akin to early renaissance paintings, and medieval tapestries. “Peragine’s squiggly brushwork and electric colors highlight the unreality of these realms. The ghostly animal inhabitants are often rendered in soft lavish textures like beings sculpted from living cloud. Stylistically they are at odds with their flat surroundings, as if they no longer fully belong to their world. The animals in these works feel as if they are holding their breath, motionless and unblinking. Staring back at the viewer warily, their stillness echoes Charles Wright’s poetic admonition:
‘The cottontail hides/out in the open, hunched under
the apple tree . . . Smart bun./Sit tight and hold on.’
Daniel Weiskopf, ARTSATL, May 2018.
“Spring Hoax” is a vibrant visceral body of work featuring skulls enmeshed in jewel-toned flowers and playfully rendered insects. Conceived during the pandemic, these sensuous paintings draw from a range of influences, blending. elements of Vanitas and Day of the Dead imagery. Vanitas paintings, a hallmark of the European Renaissance, served as a stark reminder of life’s impermanence. and the fleeting nature of material wealth. Similarly, references to Day of the Dead imagery infuses the work with a sense of celebration and remembrance, emphasizing the connection between life and death. The vivid colors and playful depictions of insects and flowers in the paintings capture the joyful spirit of this tradition, where death is embraced as a natural part of the human experience.
The 2023 exhibition is Joe Peragine’s fifth exhibition with Marcia Wood Gallery. His work has been presented in galleries, contemporary art spaces, and museums throughout the country and internationally. The scope of Peragine’s multi-disciplinary practice encompasses public art projects and commissions, including exhibitions at Art in General in New York City, Islip Museum of Art, West Islip, NY, Sunken Garden Park, Atlanta, and an installation for the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, for which he was also awarded an Atlanta Urban Design Commission Award of Excellence for Public Art, as well as being noted one of the best public art projects in 2001 in Art in America. In 2001 Peragine was invited to exhibit his work and participate in an international symposium on art and science in Beijing, China, hosted by Tsing Hua University and the National Museum of Fine Art of China. Peragine’s animations have been exhibited at the Palm Beach ICA, Florida, the Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN, MOCA GA, Atlanta, GA, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX and the Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival, among others. His paintings, drawings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries including Solomon Projects, Atlanta, Atlelie397, Sao Paulo, Brazil, David J. Spencer Museum at the CDC, Atlanta, Agnes Scott College, Dalton Gallery, Decatur, GA, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, the UA Museum of Art, and Kress Gallery, Tucson, AZ, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.
Peragine was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1961. He completed his undergraduate work in fine art at the University of Georgia, Athens, and in 1995 received his MFA in painting from Georgia State University, Atlanta. Joe Peragine is the Director of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.
