1011 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM USA
Friday, May 23, 2014–Saturday, July 5, 2014
The Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, is pleased to announce the opening of the
exhibition, Water and Stone: Julia Loken and Les Perhacs, with an opening
reception on Friday, May 23, 2014, 5-7 p.m.
Julia Loken was a botanical illustrator for 20 years, making pen –and-ink illustrations
for cookbooks, before she started to paint professionally. In 1980 she turned her
attention to watercolors and never looked back. Loken is based in Oxford, England,
where the flower and vegetable garden surrounding her 200-year old collage provides
a colorful supply of seasonal models for her botanical paintings. Since 2000, she has
been a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and has had 18 solo exhibitions
around the world and has participated in over 100 group exhibitions.
Sculptor Les Perhacs lives in Southern California. He attended Pratt Institute in New
York and counted among his teachers, David Smith, Willem de Kooning and Buckminster
Fuller. For thirty years Perhacs has been casting bronzes and sculpting stone to create
animal forms (birds in particular) not stereotypically portrayed, but always with motion
in mind. His new forms for this exhibit are both figurative and abstract. Perhacs has
remarked, While the pieces in the show may seem to be disparate, the elements of the
language of art I use are the same; the ultimate goal for all is motion and emotion. I’m
always striving to achieve works that motivate the viewer to look further beyond the
surface.”
Over the past forty years, Perhacs’ works have been shown and collected internationally.
In 2000, Perhacs earned “Master Artist” honors from the Artists of America. Public
placements include the San Diego international airport and Voorburg in the Netherlands.