Melissa Perhamus’ connatural connection with the material world engenders art that entices the eyes and stirs the soul. Trees pop with peculiar hues and seductive shapes, both familiar and hauntingly elusive. Roots reach into a strange bed of soil beneath a vivid blue sky. The coordinates of rocks, water, land and air are ravishingly reconfigured into a wonderland one would love to be lost within. These visual delights expressed on wood, paper and canvas encourage the viewer to linger, prolonging the encounter with her flower buds, streams and astonishing arboreal articulations.
Although quantifying artistic influences can be tricky, Perhamus says Esher, Dali, Dr. Seuss and Maxine Masterfield have been her inspirations. The most unlikely influence came in the form of a high school instructor she despised. This teacher forced her to move beyond her comfort zone of realism into more imaginative possibilities. Such unsolicited pressure unearthed latent abilities in her now richly explored and celebrated in her adroit creations.
Perhamus’s exceptional drawings bring nature into a singularly surreal focus, although they express an enduring refinement of her abilities. She has culled inspiration from a diverse range of mediums. “Over the years, I have gone through many phases of creating from realism to abstraction while exploring and learning many processes,” she says. “The ones which I connected most with are stone lithography, intaglio printmaking, raku pottery, sculpture, theater set design, painting, collage and drawing. However, I will say that drawing is the base of all my work.”
Her lifelong fascination with maps led to Perhamus incorporating them into her work. Beyond romantic notions about travel and the wonders residing in those three dimensional places, she discovered a rich consonance between lines on a map and roots, limbs and plants. Initially these pieces were autobiographical in nature. After the public got a glimpse, inquires followed.
“Immediately other people asked me to create works for them which included maps of places that were significant in their lives.” She ironically added, “My initials are M.A.P.”
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