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GREGORY PERKEL (Russian: Григорий Зульевич Перкель) is a Russian-American conceptual artist born May 3, 1939 in Vinnitsa, Ukraine during the time that it was part of the USSR. After the end of World War II, he and his family moved to Moscow, Russia in 1946, and he graduated from the Fine Art and Graphic Department of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute in 1964. He emigrated to the United States in 1977 along with his wife Natasha Perkel (1) and his daughter.

GREGORY PERKEL ART HISTORY


SOVIET PERIOD

Subsequent to his graduation from his art studies, Perkel made a living creating book illustrations and posters for movies, theaters and the circus, (2)(3)(4)(5) and in 1969, he was honored to become a member of the Union of Soviet Artists.

In 1970, Perkel embarked upon a four-year creative effort to produce a series of three separate lithograph albums, each of which had its own theme. The first album was inspired by the short stories penned by the classic Jewish writer Shalom-Aleichem and was intentionally designed to drew attention to (what was considered by some to be) deeply rooted anti-Semitism inherent in the Russian government during that era. Professor Matthew Baigell (6) writes about these lithographs in his article entitled, Soviet Artists, Jewish Images which was featured in the book, Jewish Dimensions in Modern Visual Culture (7) and wherein he states, “One of the most important series of works based on Shalom-Aleichem literature is the suite of 19 lithographs completed in the early 1970’s by Gregory Perkel.” (8)

Perkel’s second album in the series introduced a 180-degree change in art direction which was prompted as a response to his perception that he was starting to be stereotyped as a “Jewish artist”. In an environment that was already repressive against religion in general and Judaism in particular, Perkel chose for the subsequent album a theme which was purposely intended to quash any efforts to pidgeon-hole his artistry as “Jewish”. Accordingly, his second album focused on Leo Tolstoy’s quintessentially secular novel, “War and Peace.”  In a departure from previous, conventional representations of this novel, however, this lithograph album version offered an interpretation of Leo Tolstoy’s work that is rather “dark”. It is far from the type of  “sunny disposition” which was encouraged in art under the Soviet art system. Little art of this nature had been created before, as almost all artists were cultivated under the Soviet system which “encouraged” artists (read as “demanded”) to cheerfully support the Party goals of a utopian society. The War and Peace lithographs marked a significant intensification of Perkel’s dissident art expression. The radically different and morose character of this second album which was a departure from the traditional Soviet-styled art approach partly accounts for the reason that it was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery (9) in 1976, where it remains today.

The third album in the series entitled, Parables consists of 5 visual stories reflecting Perkel’s continuing critical view of the governing regime of the Soviet Union during that period.

In 1973, Perkel collaborated with the theater director Felix Berman (Russian: Феликс Соломонович Берман) (10) as the stage and costume designer for the first Jewish musical performed in the USSR called “Bewitched Tailor” (Russian: Заколдованный Портной) which was performed that year at the Moscow Jewish Theater (Russian: Московский еврейский драматический ансамбль). (11)(12) Bewitched Tailor became a public and critical success despite the environment of State anti-Semitism that existed in Russia at the time. After the play’s initial success Director Berman thereafter commissioned Perkel in 1974 to design the costumes and sets for yet another show, The Sorceress (Russian:Колдунья] by Abraham Goldfaden. Perkel completed the design work in 1975, but the show was never publicly performed as a result of the State’s ultimately censoring the play. (13)

AMERICAN PERIOD
Perkel’s first gallery show in the United States was held in March 1978 at the Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts gallery, and it sold-out completely to a single buyer, that being Norton Dodge (14), who was one of the United States’ most distinguished collectors of Soviet “dissident art” at the time. (Dodge later donated his entire collection to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. (15) )

In 1981, Perkel was one of only a select few artists invited to participate in a “mega” gallery show called the “Russian New Wave”. This show exhibited the “most important” émigré artists of that period, such as Neizvestny, Shemyakin, Tselkov and Tulpanov, and was organized through the combined efforts of Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts (16) and Norton Dodge. It was open to the public between December 4, 1981 – February 7, 1982, and was located at 599 Broadway in the Soho section of New York City.

An enormous installation of Perkel’s work was presented en masse entitled, “Totems, Parts and Obsession” and showcased a whopping 56 oil paintings. John Russell reported on this show in The New York Times Review. (17)

From the conclusion of the massive “Russian New Wave” show up until the end of 1989, Perkel started working in an artform that he dubbed “Conglomerates” which consists of the combination of multiple mixed-media artworks assembled into one unified work displayed on a wall. A collection of his Conglomerates was exhibited in February 1987 at the Mokotoff Gallery, along with a series of 12 paintings entitled, Plagued Myth which depicts scenes from biblical myth overlaid with inscriptions from contemporary advertisements. (18)

Perkel also was instrumental as an introducing intermediary between his longtime Russian artist friend, Ilya Kabakov (19) and Ronald Feldman, owner of New York’s Ronald Feldman Gallery. In 1988, in preparation for his first gallery show, Kabakov worked out of Perkel’s New York studio, with Perkel documenting much this time in a video journal. Part of this video journal was later incorporated into the 2016 documentary about Kabakov by Liliya Vyugina (Russian: Лилия Вьюгина) (20) and which is entitled, ''Ilya Kabakov. Not a colorist''. (Russian: Лилия Вьюгина “Илья Кабаков.  Не колорист”) (21) Amei Wallach references the relationship between Perkel and Kabakov in her book, The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away, New York: Harry Abrams, 1996. (21a)

Over a two-year period starting in 1990, Perkel worked on an installation called ''Trade, Pray and Relax Over A Coffin Table. '' This installation was the introduction of a new media that Perkel invented and that he refers to as “Cardboard Mosaic”, given that such works are comprised exclusively of cutouts from conventional commercial corrugated cardboard containers and packaging that are glued to plywood. The inaugural exhibition of his Cardboard Mosaic works took place in 1993 at the Frank Bustamante Gallery in Soho, NY. The show was reviewed by Amei Wallach for News Day. (22)

It was through this gallery show that Perkel became acquainted with Ivan Karp, the owner of OK Harris Works of Art (23), who invited Perkel to join his gallery. In 1995, Perkel premiered his installation entitled Pieces from an Archive. Perkel’s follow-up show, The Raft of Inspiration, came two years later, in November 1997 and was dedicated to people who inspired him throughout his life. This included his grandfather, Nahum Perkel, who perished during the holocaust and who was acknowledged with piece named “Yizkor”. This show was reviewed by J. Bowyer Bell (24) in the November 1997 edition of the magazine “REVIEW” as Corporaria Land, The Raft of Inspiration. (25)

Perkel’s third installation debuted at the OK Harris Gallery in May 2002, and was called, Pyramid Mall/Shopping Spree From Pyramid To Christmas Tree and served as a satire mocking the American consumer’s obsession with acquiring “things”. Roberta Smith reviewed the show in The New York Times. (26) Elements from that show were later exhibited at the New Jersey’s Hunterdon Museum of Art under the title, Manuscripts of the Cardboard Culture. (27) The show was reviewed by Dan Bischoff for Star-Ledger. (REF!!!27a)

It was in late 2002 that Perkel moved away from cardboard and returned to his “roots” in oil painting with the result manifesting itself at the OK Harris Gallery show in October-November 2006 as Warehouse, a colossally vast, floor-to-ceiling installation of 168 paintings all by Perkel showcasing almost every traditionally known art style, all of which entirely obscured the supporting gallery walls. The purpose of such a vast array of paintings of varying styles was to parody the prevailing practice by most serious galleries of exhibiting merely a few pieces that were deemed “important” by any given artist. (28)

“Dream Dinner for Twelve”, a part of Perkel’s larger work entitled, “Temple for the Eaten Products” was exhibited at OK Harris Gallery of Art in 2013.

In 2015, Perkel yet again demonstrated his whimsical creative capacity by trading-in his focus on traditional art techniques in order to embrace a more modern art format that took the shape of a tri-part art endeavor consisting of: 1) performance art in the form of an act; 2) the documentation of the act via video and still photography; and then 3) the exhibiting of the video and photography through a gallery show.  He innovated an ambitious, cross-media installation entitled, “Savonarola Suite” which relied upon photographic and motion picture imagery of the real-time burning of complete editions of 40 years’ worth of the magazines Art in America and Art News. The installation necessitated Perkel’s custom creation of a fire-resistant steel sculpture which he dubbed “Savonarola” in honor of the 15th Century Florentine monk of the same name. Savonarola was necessary to hold the magazines during the blazing combustion. The performance art aspect of the project involved two parts, with the first being a laborious, meticulous paging-through of each monthly edition, which resulted in 40 hours of video. The second element of the Savonarola Suite project entailed the complete destruction-by-burning of all 700 magazines one-at-a-time, which resulted in months of editing and 18 hours of video. The Savonarola Suite was premiered at the Pulse show in Miami by Black and White Gallery in December 2019. (29)

PRINT ALBUMS:

2007 – "From AM to PM in Search of The G-Spot"

2014 – "Women on Death Row"

2014 – Voices from the Swamp"

2017 – "Alfresco with Pietro Aretino on the ground of the Lakshmana Temple in Khajuraho"

PHOTO BOOKS:

2015 – "Times Square & Vicinity", 2015;

2017 –  "Thousand Years Hoofing from Lakshmana Temple to Khajuraho Fair"

2018  – "Myrtle Beach/Myths on the Sand"

ART BOOKS:

2019 – "Temple for Eaten Products"

2020 – “ Perkeland Currency”

ONE-MAN SHOW EXHIBITIONS

1976 – Nicholas Vergette Gallery, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

1978 – Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts, New York

1978 – Allyn Gallery, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

1982 – "Totems, Parts and Obsession" Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts, NY

1983 – "Nostalgic Bouquets" Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts, NYC

1987 – "Polyphonic Images" Mokotoff Gallery, NYC

1993 – "Trade, Pray And Relax Over Coffin Table", Bustamante Gallery, NYC

1995 – "Pieces from an Archive" O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC

1997 – "The Raft of Inspiration" O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC

2002 – "Pyramid Mall" O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC

2006 – "Warehouse" O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC

2007 – "Manuscripts of the Cardboard Culture," Hunterdon Museum of Art, NJ

2013 – "Dream Dinner for Twelve" O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC

2019 - "Savonarola Suite Installation" Black & White Gallery/Pulse 2019, Miami, FL

GROUP SHOWS:

1978 – "New Russian Art", Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NYC

1981 – Art Basel, Switzerland

1982 – "Russian New Wave", Norton Dodge Collection, Soho International Art Center, NYC (30)

1986 – "July Eye", Mokotoff Gallery, NYC

1993 – "Shtetl Life", Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA

2003 – "Summer Show", O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York

2003 – "Jewish Faces in Soviet Art", Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJ

2006 – Brevard Museum of Art, Melbourne, FL

2006 – "Artist Against The State: Perestroika Revisited", Ronald Feldman Gallery, NYC (31)

2010  – "Scent of a Woman", Dalet Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2010 – Consumed, Taplin Gallery, Arts Council of Princeton, NJ

2014 – "New Acquisition", New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT (32)

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, N. Novgorod, Russia (33)

Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA (34)

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJ

New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT  (35)

Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. (36)

Link to documentary “Out of the Box”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHpP22zjP0EHere is a citation to a website.

Reference section
(1)   https://books.google.com/books?id=r-bNHjiLgv8C&pg=PA291&lpg=PA291&dq=natasha+perkel&source=bl&ots=m-7uEsq3ll&sig=aV28kgWUuq2Vw5HBDFGat7mls6E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5voGBpsbVAhUP8YMKHd5xCN8Q6AEIPzAF#v=onepage&q=natasha%20perkel&f=false (2) https://fantlab.ru/art567?ysclid=lbl0adnumf99314624

(3) https://www.reklamafilm.com/perkel

(4) https://www.rusf.ru/abs/s_pe.htm?ysclid=lbl0esxqr5203175422

(5) https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Major_Vikhr.jpg

(6) https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/baigell-matthew-1933

(7) https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=isbn%3A9781584657958

(8) https://books.google.com/books?id=4OIqCtHgOxIC&pg=PA249&lpg=PA249&dq=gregory+perkel&source=bl&ots=-ZYKCSyRxL&sig=oNudDvNZtHniRdWSZXSpJHZ7dGA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXnYWn0bTYAhVncd8KHTANATY4FBDoAQhSMAk#v=onepage&q=gregory%20perkel&f=false

(9) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tretyakov_Gallery

(10) https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Берман,_Феликс_Соломонович

(11) https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%D0%A8%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BC_(%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%80)&oldid=120591343

(12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GvXplQuX2Q

(13) https://www.chayka.org/node/12830#.Yfl3N3RGAOo.gmail

(14) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Dodge

(15) https://www.rutgers.edu/news/zimmerli-art-museum-rutgers-acquires-whole-legendary-dodge-collection-soviet-nonconformist-art

(16) https://russianartarchive.net/en/catalogue/event/ENGS

(17) https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/18/arts/art-household-objects-don-mysterious-guises.html

(18) https://www.worldcat.org/title/gregory-perkel/oclc/83388839

(19) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Kabakov

(20) https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Вьюгина,_Лилия_Васильевна

(21) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ybAR-qpSKw

(22) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/706686699/

(23) http://www.okharris.com/artists/perkel.htm#

(24) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Bowyer_Bell

(25) https://gregoryperkelstudio.com/popup/review_assets/BowyerBell.pdf

(26) https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/arts/art-in-review-gregory-perkel.html

(27) https://www.nj.com/ledgerentertainment/2007/06/a_look_at_the_fine_print_can_b.html

(28) http://www.okharris.com/current/press55p.htm

(29) http://www.blackandwhiteprojectspace.org/savonarolasuite

(30) https://garagemca.org/en/programs/library/catalogue/L46831

(31) https://artfacts.net/artist/gregory-perkel/118216

(32) https://ink.nbmaa.org/objects/11468/go-go-goya-play-by-seneca?ctx=175d93b6e226b9e236360bf9b00a54476cc4f009&idx=0

(33) http://www.russianmuseums.info/M1558

(34) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnes_Collection_of_Jewish_Art_and_Life

(35) https://wikimili.com/en/New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art

(36) http://kolodzeiart.org

External links section
Official Website: www.gregoryperkelstudio.com