Biography
Born in Rockville Centre, NY, in 1944, Richard Louis Perri came to San Francisco in 1967 with “flowers in my hair”.
He started his journey in the world of art back in 1963, when he attended the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. It was a pivotal time, and that year gave him the foundation he needed to begin developing his voice as an artist. After that, he moved on to Arizona State University, where he completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.
In 1977, he found himself at the San Francisco Art Institute, a place that would deeply influence his artistic evolution. He spent the 1977-78 academic year there, surrounded by like-minded individuals and faculty who challenged his thinking and pushed his practice in new directions.
His main focus is making art as a Fine Artist Oil Painter. He is experienced in creating work in various genres and in a diverse and varied subject matter. His art exhibited primarily in galleries in museums in San Francisco and is permanently in the National Museums in Shenzhen and Wuhan, China.
He is known for painting the history of San Francisco and has been described by San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Carl Nolte as “San Francisco’s Greatest Undiscovered Artist” because he paints pictures of undiscovered places in San Francisco. He loves this city, made it his home. It is his inspiration.
SHADES OF QUALIA
Exhibited are paintings of unique places in San Francisco. Some of them are off the beaten track but for many San Franciscans they are well-known evocative emblems of what this great city is all about. Though many of these places are gone now, the paintings depict the historic character of these special landmarks that we San Franciscans hold and dear.
In addition, they are also paintings that have qualia that reach beyond casual observation. Qualia are the tones and hues of our subjective experience. We can put numbers on the color intensity and value but not on their essence. An endless puzzle to philosophers, qualia are the array used by artists to create bridges between our inner lives.
Qualia are the ultimate subjective sensations, which make up conscious experience. The artist’s representation allows the observer to engage, explore, and penetrate the mental state of the artist in a deep, intense, and profound manner. This enhances the depth of the relationship between the external world and the responsiveness of the subject.
You are invited to see beyond the usual and permit the qualia in these paintings to permeate your consciousness and allow yourself to feel the immeasurable experience provoking your emotions. In other words, get into the visual experience. Go up to these paintings, look at them and see how they make you feel.
Richard Louis Perri
