CODA GALLERY PRESENTS
PAINTINGS BY JAMIE PERRY
EXHIBITION: FEB. 1 - 22
OPENING RECEPTION: FEB 1, 5 - 8 PM.

PALM DESERT, CA — CODA Gallery presents a new exhibition of paintings by Jamie Perry, running Feb. 1-22. An opening reception, attended by the artist, will be held 5-8 p.m. on Feb. 1 in conjunction with El Paseo Art Walk/Palm Desert First Weekend.

If you sense a bit of Edward Hopper in Jamie’s figurative paintings or a bit of Maynard Dixon in one of his landscapes, you’ve identified two of his inspirations in terms of style. In terms of subject matter, the native Southern Californian finds daily motivation from “being observational.”

“I like to take an otherwise common scene or image and create a painting that can have humorous undertones or be thought-provoking,” he says.

His French bulldog, Ace, serves as a frequent model. The Opportunist shows an overhead view of him supposedly contemplating his choices among brightly iced donuts spilled from their iconic pink box. In The Perfect Match, he sits on a bench viewing a large painting of a donut.

Jamie has painted multiple versions on the theme of people viewing artwork. Based on his observations of art students sketching masterworks in a museum, he painted Jackson’s Protégé showing a child copying a Pollock-esque painting with crayons scattered around her.

Travelers offer another motif that intrigues Jamie. For this exhibition, he painted Moving On #6, which depicts a vintage pink and white trailer with a girl in a yellow dress holding a suitcase.

Though he grew up in Claremont and now lives in Riverside, Midwest settings (e.g., a lone farmhouse on flat land) appeal to his minimalist aesthetic. At the same time, he attributes his love for symbols of the American dream and lifestyle to “growing up in Southern California where there’s so much opportunity.”

Jamie further explains why people in his paintings are “faceless,” where the viewer stands behind or above the subject, and why the men typically wear suits and hats and sometimes hold an open umbrella.

“I want to leave it up to the viewer to interpret who the person is. It adds an air of mystery,” he says. “And I like ’40s and ’50s attire, so a lot of my paintings have a retro theme, even though they might show a modern setting.”

Notable collectors include actors Paul Rudd and Kevin Nealon, the Boeing family, DuPont, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.