Musette Perkins
b. 1982, San Francisco, CA ∙ CE artist since 2001
Musette Perkins’ clean-lined drawings depict familiar symbols and icons in a realistic style. She repeats images in complex patterns that fill the picture plane. She occasionally likes to incorporate text into her drawings and paintings, often prose or poetry that she finds interesting.
Perkins has continued to develop her affinity for pattern, carefully planning her color palette and motifs. Her designs are often organized around a central figure or form – faceted gems, insects, vintage wallpaper, and taxonomical illustrations of plants. Perkins’ work achieves both the precision of deco architectural forms and the effusive beauty of organic matter.
Her meditative and labyrinthian linework comes alive when the artist applies color – her color pairings are surprising yet harmonic. Perkins’ attention to tonal interplays and the use of gradient or shadow demand the viewer’s attention and call to mind lavishly furnished interiors. Typically Perkins works in a smaller scale but also enjoyed stretching out during her residency at CE Inclusion Studios at Art Explosion in 2019, creating massive scenes that exemplify her use of color, repeated forms, and pattern.
Select Exhibitions & Projects
2016
Natural History, Creativity Explored Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ripe, Creativity Explored Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015
Dance Party!, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2012
Out of Order, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2011
SMALL, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2009
"Science" Fiction, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2008
INsects INsectos, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2004
Gesture, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Functionable, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Critters, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Heads n' Tails, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2003
Fired and Wired, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
LIT: Lamps, Lanterns, and Shadow, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA