Quimetta Perle

Quimetta Perle was born in Washington, DC in 1954 to an artist and a poet. Perle received her MFA in Computer Arts from the School of Visual Arts and her BFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her work encompasses a wide range of media from mixed and multimedia pieces to wearable video necklaces to artist's books.

In Perle's work, women wear jewelry and are made of jewelry. Drawn with paint, beads and sequins, they sport video necklaces and iPod encrusted tiaras.   In the series Seeing Eyes, videos of women's eyes, surrounded by decorative beaded frames, gaze out from the wall.  Other works are wearable art—iPod pendants embellished with beads, artificial gems and vintage costume jewelry. Perle began using beads, sequins and embroidery in the 1970s to make a statement about women’s traditional art materials and their beauty and visual power.  Her works are pieces of this present moment, snapshots of our culture, which casually incorporates technology in every aspect of our lives.   The embedded electronics give them humor and poignancy.  Less may be more… but not always.  Her work is maximal, not minimal, feminist, not neutral, complex, not simple.  Perle creates images of empowered, sexy women, in work that dazzles and draws viewers in.

Perle has had 12 solo shows in galleries, nonprofit spaces and universities, including Lesley University, Cambridge, MA; Polytechnic University, Brooklyn; Soho 20, NYC and WARM Gallery and Glen Hanson Gallery in Minneapolis. In 2013, her historic work from the 1970's was featured in "The House We Built," a national show of feminist art over the last 40 years at the University of Minnesota. She has been in numerous group shows in galleries and museums over the last 35 years, including Bullet Space, Exit Art and Art in General in Manhattan, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, the Bronx Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Minnesota Museum. In the late 70's and early 80's, Perle was a member of WARM Gallery, a women's cooperative in Minneapolis. Perle taught at Pratt Institute in the Digital Design and Foundation Departments from 1998-2005. Her poems have been published in Jewish Currents and Moment Magazine, and in the anthology, "The American Dream." She oversees an arts workshop program for people with mental disabilities and the HAI Art Studio for artists with mental illness through Healing Arts Initiative in Long Island City, NY.

Website: www.quimettaperle.com

Exhibitions

July 1 - 28, 2021
The Small Works Show

July 11- July 31, 2019
The Small Works Show

May 3 - 24, 2018
The More Things Change

December 7 - 21, 2017
Holiday Bazaar

April 7 - 28, 2016
On the Wall