“A Matter of Discovery: The Art of Luis Perelman” On View at the Neuberger Museum of Art from June 7-November 5, 2023

Today at noon, the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College, SUNY opens its doors to A Matter of Discovery: The Art of Luis Perelman, a dynamic retrospective featuring more than six decades of work by the New York-based multimedia artist.

“Luis Perelman is an artistic innovator who continues to explore, discover, and reinvent himself,” explains exhibition curator Patrice Giasson, the Neuberger Museum’s Alex Gordon Curator of Art of the Americas. “In this show, never-before-seen color, line, and material studies from the artist’s private studio are presented alongside his finished works. Looking with attention at the works in the gallery, one can see the meticulous precision and incredible attention to detail behind each of his drawings, paintings, and sculptures.”

Image: Luis Perelman, Coca Cola Series, 1998, 21 parts; found materials embedded in clear resin, 7 ½ x 2 ¼ x 2 ¼, Courtesy of Luis Perelman. Credit: Patrice GiassonPerelman may be best known for his pioneering sculptures cast in clear resin. Keys, screws and wingnuts, lightbulbs, typewriter parts, industrial objects, and shredded currency from the US Treasury Department are encased in pristine obelisks, columns, pyramids, and other iconic shapes. Discarded materials collected from New York City streets float within the sculptures as a silent echo of the society in which Perelman evolved.

It was these early resin sculptures that first attracted Leo Castelli, a gallerist who represented many of the most influential artists at the time, to Perelman’s work. And it was at Castelli’s gallery that Museum founder Roy R. Neuberger purchased Industrial Petrifications #8 (1964), the first of Perelman’s objects to enter the Museum’s collection when the museum was founded in 1969.

Along with the artist’s resin sculptures, The Art of Discovery includes works from Perelman’s Color Field Paintings (1970s); wall compositions inspired by Islamic drawings such as his Sufi Wall Reliefs (1980s) and Kamal Series (2016); patinated metal works from his Copper Wall Reliefs (1990s) and Wrapped Metal Weave Series (2011); and a selection of his recent Paper Folds and digital Optical Constructions created since 2020.


A Matter of Discovery: The Art of Luis Perelman is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, and curated by Patrice Giasson, the Alex Gordon Curator of the Art of Americas. The exhibition includes an illustrated brochure featuring an interview by the curator and the artist.

The exhibition will be on view at the Neuberger Museum from June 7 through November 5, 2023. The opening reception will be held on Sunday, June 11, from 12:00pm – 2:00pm. A small catalogue accompanying the exhibition features an interview between the artist and curator.

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Alex Gordon Estate.

Press images available upon request.

The Neuberger Museum of Art opened on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, in 1974 with a core collection donated by Roy R. Neuberger, one of the greatest private collectors, philanthropists, and arts advocates of the twentieth century. Today, critically acclaimed exhibitions, tours, lectures, and interactive programs for patrons of all ages make the Neuberger a center of teaching and learning for all stages of life.

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