Oliver Perkins is the most recent McCahon House artist-in-residence. He produces works that both make reference to painting legacies and act as suggestive reminders of paintings’ relationship to common objects. His works consequently open themselves up for multiple points of resonance, from art history and philosophy to architecture, carpentry and design.
Underpinning Perkins’ practice is a desire to find a propeller for generative painting production. His mode of working is prolific, producing paintings quickly and intuitively in a way that might be likened to a fervent drawing practice. Certain forms or attributes emerge — and are indeed chased — as prompts for successive works.
For Japanese Laurel, Perkins looks at the potential of examining a singular ‘painting type’ derived from the dowel ‘architrave’ form and a local colour vernacular. Each work might be read as an unpacking of possible permutations, where one painting’s form and logic can be seen to inform another. The works then embrace a specific painting duality, oscillating between acting as a self-contained object and operating as a gesture towards an expansive network of references that accumulates and grows with each new painting.
Oliver Perkins was born in 1979 and studied in Christchurch School of Art & Design (CPIT) from 1999-2002. In 2005, he was awarded the Tanz Scholarship, which saw him complete his MZ at Chelsea College of Arts. His work is held in various collections worldwide including Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, University of the Arts Collection (London), Saatchi Gallery (London) and Zabludowicz Collection (London). Perkins is represented by Hopkinson Mossman.