To slowly read between the lines
Exhibition catalogue essay commissioned by the Queensland College of Arts for Interference Patterns by Kahli Perkins, April 2021.
Photograph: Cian Sanders.
There tends to be an urge to be visually indulgent when it comes to works of art. We have a hankering for gratification, for our eyes to eventually settle and to find satisfaction in knowing what it all ‘really means’. In the case of Kahli Perkins’ recent suite of works, Interference Patterns, this urge is not satiated. Rather, you are left with the nagging feeling that something more is happening beyond the veil of paint; as if you’re not quite perceiving them fully. Described by the artist as “soft-edge abstractions”, their blurred, minimal compositions reward slow viewing. with nudges of nostalgia and notes on perception. The exhibition relishes in its delicate, feminine undertones and highlights not only the audience’s ability to gaze, but the grace to pause and really ‘look’ in the first place.
From afar, each canvas hums in a spectrum of soft pastels. Their soft-edge geometric compositions suggest plush, three-dimensional surfaces or shimmering, evanescent light. As you move closer, this illusion slowly unfurls itself in shifting bands of hazy colour. Yet, despite their soothing demeanours, a tension is held in each canvas. Your eyes strain and attempt to adjust, waiting for the surface to eventually buffer and clear. Alas, you are left to push and pull through surges of paint like an ocean’s current. The effect is an undulation, similar to the ripples in sand that remain after the loose sediment settles into bedforms. In this light, each ‘wave’ on Perkins’ canvas acts as the residue of the artist’s hand, something which is almost completely undetectable. What is left for us to see is evidence of the tedious curling and shaping of unstretched canvas for paint to then be applied to its peaks and crevasses in slow, controlled dusts.
Perkins’ astute attention to the illusionary nature of colour is undeniable. It is anecdotes such as one heated social media debate in 2015, regarding the ‘blue-black’ or ‘white-gold’ dress, that highlight how uncomfortable we are with the ambiguity and mystery of colour. The reality is, we may not see the same and there is no hard truth when it comes to the perception of colour and light. Embedded within the experience of seeing each Interference Pattern arecomplex layers of past experiences with different ‘types’ of light. In both their warmth and application, Perkins’ works, created and exhibited in Brisbane, elicit their subtropical climate. Akin to laying on a beach and simply closing your eyes, gently noticing the soft fleshy tones of your eyelids as the sun beams onto your face. Or the clement, peachy morning sun peeking through translucent curtains, casting powdered light across the floorboards of an old Queenslander.
Our experience with light is, quite literally, all consuming. We absorb Vitamin D through our skin every day, though seldom do we reflect on light waves’ internal conflict and their effect on colour. Similar to the interplay of swirling purples, greens and pinks captured in a soap bubble, the phenomena of interference colour embedded in each work creates a slippage of perception. In a soft yellow light, artworks such as Interference Pattern (Dioxazine Purple and Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)) have the potential to emit mint-green hues; in a whiter artificial light, it casts crystal-blues and pinks.
The dreamlike quality of Perkins’ work simultaneously evokes the feeling of ambiguity, paradox, and comfort. They demarcate the experience of savouring moments of stillness, moments which may not otherwise be lingered on. In this case, the works evoke malleable surfaces; intimate, meditative interiors or something on the tip of your tongue. A sliver of a memory. One so comforting, you can feel each canvas wrap around you like a duvet.
Rather than an overt command of our attention, each work slowly pulls you in, urging the viewer to look beyond its surface. There is an honest fragility that lies in each works’ restraint, in their luminosity, their unintrusive glow, and their imperfections. It leaves you the space to read between the lines, of both perception and experience. Kahli Perkins’ works entreat us to pause, breathe, and accept them, to feel even more tender, ever more essential.