Masks

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: The Secret Intelligence Service, Vauxhall Cross, Albert Embankment

In Masks, a cacophony of different marks - blobs, dots and dashes - are overlaid upon splashes of brilliant colour. A number of ovular shapes with open mouths or eyes float randomly within a tangle of imagery that resembles dense undergrowth. Although titled Masks, this work is by no means a literal representation. It is like a vivid dreamscape inhabited by strange creatures and objects. Our eye darts around the picture, leaping from one motif to another, trying, but not always succeeding, to make connections between them. Like a piece of music, this work has the effect of creating a sensory experience - not solely a visual one - that makes us `feel' what we see in front of us.

The influences on Perfect's artistic style are as eclectic and varied as the forms that are interspersed in his work. He has revealed how cartoon animation, especially the graphics of Spider Man strips by Marvel Comics and the imagery of contemporary digital computer games, have influenced his drawing style. Equally his contemporary take on landscape relates to the work of Ivon Hitchens, Patrick Heron and the very `English' tradition of modern landscape painting.

Dan Perfect was born in London and studied printmaking and painting at Chelsea School of Art and Central St Martins between 1981 and 1991. He came to wider prominence in the British art scene in 2001, following his participation in the group show 'Death to the Fascist Insect that Preys on the Life of the People' at Anthony D'Offay Gallery in London. A number of solo exhibitions of his work were subsequently held in London and since then he has also shown work in group shows in Sheffield, Southampton, New York and Los Angeles. In 2002, he was shortlisted for the prestigious Beck's Futures contemporary art prize in the UK. In 2008, two separate solo shows of his work took place at the Chisenhale Gallery and at the One in the Other Gallery, both in London.

Places

Subjects

abstract, mask

Materials & Techniques

acrylic (paint), linen, oil, acrylic painting, oil painting

Artist

Dan Perfect (1965 - )

Title

Masks

Date

2006

Medium

Oil and acrylic on linen

Dimensions

height: 183.00 cm, width: 213.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Anne Berthoud, April 2009

Provenance

Anne Berthoud, London

GAC number

18256