by Sara Farizan
FRAMINGHAM- A one-man show is never an easy feat but landscape artist Roy Perkinson is ready to meet the challenge by displaying 70 pieces of work at the Fountain Street Fine Art gallery from May 6-29. Perkinson, who in recent years works in oils, pastels and water colors, does most of his painting on location and it comes as no surprise that his work evokes images and memories of places a viewer has once visited or would like to visit. But these landscapes are not merely snapshots, they are picturesque musings on a time gone past, a dreamlike version of everyday locations that the naked eye can take for granted. Colors bleed into one another, creating a moody haze and allowing the viewer total immersion into a location they have not yet visited but will now remember all too clearly. Perkinson is able to harness light and frame his view so effortlessly, it is obvious that he has been a working artist for decades.
Perkinson has said of his work, “Many people have had the pleasant experience of seeing something — whether as dramatic as a panoramic sunset or as mundane as a shaft of sunlight falling across a flower on a table — that is somehow like an unexpected gift and a moment of heightened awareness. For me, there is an instant of recognition that what I am seeing could become a painting.” Perkinson has had a lengthy career in the art world being featured at many galleries including the Grossman Gallery at the School of the MFA; Turtle Gallery on Deer Isle Maine; Babson college and Wellesley College to name a few. His paintings are also in many private collections from California to Europe as well as at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston where he was once an adjunct faculty member. Perkinson’s landscapes include not only traditional pastorals and hillsides, but locations one would never think to explore like a traffic light stop or a desolate exit on the turnpike. It is in Perkinson’s treatment of all his locations however, that he is a master at harnessing light, mood and nostalgia in each and every one of his pieces. Opening reception for Perkinson’s work is Saturday, May 7, from 5-8 pm at the Fountain Street Fine Art. The gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 11-5 and by appointment.