Robert Perillat (1922-1991)

This exciting exhibition celebrates the first time the work has been shown in Woodstock since his days on the Maverick Art Colony. Included in the exhibition are 30 large scale oil paintings ranging in date from 1970-1991 that Fletcher Gallery curated from a body of over 300 major works left to his estate after the artist’s death. With his diverse palette Robert Perillat created dynamic abstractions that measure no less than 4 feet in any direction. Perillat’s canvases are filled with influences from several of the artistic movements of his time. Some of his works are graffitiesque in nature while others feature graphic industrial imagery in the form of numbers and letters. Many of them have stylistic similarities to the Russian artists of the early twentieth century such as Kadinsky. All of them emanate a powerful sense of color and vibrancy.

In addition to his career as a painter, Robert Perillat was a long time professor of philosophy at Notre Dame and several other important colleges throughout the United States. In 1981 Perillat moved to a studio in Brooklyn where he devoted himself full time to his painting. There he designed and created some of his most powerful work for the last ten years of his life. Jotted down in one of his sketch books, Perillat writes: “Out of these one hundred and eighty one paintings I could pick out forty for a one-man show that would knock the socks off New York. There is no doubt in my mind that my work is going to sell and sell well but right now I am not ready for that sort of stuff. I’m busy right now making it up this cliff. I am discovering in a legitimate and painful way who I am as an artist. I am very much aware of the premium the art world places on style, and unfortunately most artists work I see in the galleries is the result of a premature arresting of style to their work that results in cleverness without intuition, self repetition without creation, method without madness, instant recognition without substance. I prefer the loneliness of the long distance runner.”

Robert Perillat exhibited widely throughout the United States. He was the recipient of important awards throughout his life including two first place awards at the Arsenal, New York City.

“I guess I am old enough to want to uncover the treasure for my own sake. I want the thing itself. The fame the fortune will come I am sure but it is only secondary to what I thirst for, the full birth of myself into the world as a true and complete artist.”

Biography

1946- Sports page artist for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat

1958- Dissertation: St. Thomas Aquinas on Principal of Substinance (The Notion of Person) - College of Notre Dame
 
Awards

1959- 1st Place, Sculpture award Notre Dame given by Eugene Korendi & Ivan Mestrovic
 
1988- 1st place, Arsenal Central Park, Curated by Peter Frank.
Award given by, Ms. Susan Hirschfield, Assoc. Curator of the Guggenheim Museum.

1990- 1st place, Arsenal Central Park, Curated by Peter Frank & Constance Bangs
Award given by, Ms. Susan Hirschfield, Assoc. Curator of the Guggenheim Museum.

Group shows

1984- York College Art, Jamaica, N.Y

1985- All Fool Show, Williamsburg Bridge Artists, Brooklyn, N.Y.

1988- Arsenal, Central Park, N.Y.C.

1990- Arsenal, Central Park, N.Y.C.

Solo shows

1977- Diana Fuller Gallery, San Fransico, Ca.

1978- E.B. Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.

1978- Bruner’s Fine Arts, Santa Rosa, Ca.

1982- York College Art, Jamaica, N.Y.C.

1985- Louis K. Meisel Gallery, N.Y.C.

1998 – Abbatoir Gallery, Santa Cruz, Ca.

2004 – Celeste Gallery, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

2006 – Les Fauve Gallery, Schuylerville, N.Y.

2007 - Riverfront Studio Two, Schuyleville, N.Y.

Scholarships

1951-57- Cardinal O’Hare Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Philosophy
University of Notre Dame.

1957-58 – National Danforth Teacher Study Grant for completion of doctoral Studies, University of Notre Dame.

1961- Otto Spaeth Foundation Grant for study of Church Architecture in America, University of Notre Dame.

1962- National Science Foundation Grant for the study in the History and Philosophy of Science, American University, Washington, D.C.

Teaching

1968-69- Vice President of Student Affairs, and Professor of Philosophy
Russel-Sage College , Troy, N.Y.

1967-68- Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, State university of New York at Albany.

1962- 67- Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, N.Y.

1964-66 – Instructor of Philosophy Manhattan Community College, N.Y.

1954- 62- Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, St. Mary’s College for women, Notre Dame, Ind.

1953-54- Teaching fellow in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

1948-50-  Instructor of Philosophy, University of Santa Clara, Ca.

1953- Instructor of Philosophy, Dominican College for Women, San Rafael, Ca.

1953- Instructor in Philosophy, San Fransico College for women, Ca.

Philosophical Papers and Addresses

 1953- Review of Mortimer Adler’s preliminary draft of his work on Free Will.

1959- Invitational address to the faculty and student body “Problems of Mortality in Art”

1960- Regional Conference of the Catholic Philosophical Assoc. (The Notion of Causality in Medieval and Contemporary Philosophy.)

1961- Annual Spring Lecture, St. Leo’s College, Florida. “The Significance of a Christian Philosophy of Education”

1967- Annual Conference of the New York State Superintendents of Public Education, S.U.N.Y.  Albany, N.Y.

1968- Bi-annual paper, Philosophy department Colloquim, S.U.N.Y.,(Albany)
Stawson’s work: “Individuals”