Mark Perlman

Artist’s Statement

Although there is seldom a preconceived image that I start with, there is a clear determination of where I want to travel with each painting. It is rather like being blindfolded and asked to walk around the land you have lived on most of your life. Also, imagine cliffs surrounding all the exterior edges. Although there is a familiarity of the space you have walked many times, there is the danger of going too far in any one direction. Over the years I have been continually fascinated and in search of combining luminosity with the layered surface of buried or forgotten images. In an attempt to record my present and past thoughts and memories, I place as many images, markings and words as possible into the process of each painting. I am continually editing myself in hopes of reaching a balance of noise and solitude. The images and textured surfaces represent the energy and activity level I experience throughout the day, while the light and open space of the paintings signifies the more reflective moments.

Mark Perlman was born in a small steel mill town outside Pittsbugh in 1950 and moved several times before settling in Sebastopol, Ca. in 1988. After teaching at several universities over a 35 year period he settled in 1988 at Sonoma State University, where he is currently still teaching. His paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States as well as in museums in Russia, Japan, and China. In addition, his work is included in hundreds of private collections as well as several public institutions. He has been the recipient of two National Endowment grants.
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About Posit Editor

Susan Lewis (susanlewis.net) is the Editor-in-chief and founder of Posit (positjournal.com) and the author of ten books and chapbooks, including Zoom (winner of the Washington Prize), Heisenberg's Salon, This Visit, and State of the Union. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies such as Walkers in the City (Rain Taxi), They Said (Black Lawrence Press), and Resist Much, Obey Little (Dispatches/Spuyten Duyvil), as well as in journals such as Agni, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions online, Diode, Interim, New American Writing, and VOLT.