Alice Marie Perreault
An Art Practice of Body, Science and Civics
|
|
I toy with delineations between natural systems and manufactured conventions. And I do this within light of domesticity, physiology and neurobiological science.
My work is a continuum happening inside and outside the studio; The care I put into creating art, concerns the care I put into mothering a young daughter exploring independence, and a son, whose physical disabilities and medical frailties magnify dependencies.
My mixed-media process blends these exercises as artist and caretaker. These private and intimate performances oscillate into something tangible through multiple materials that pass through my hands in both roles.
It is a practice of body, science and civics.
-Perreault
My work is a continuum happening inside and outside the studio; The care I put into creating art, concerns the care I put into mothering a young daughter exploring independence, and a son, whose physical disabilities and medical frailties magnify dependencies.
My mixed-media process blends these exercises as artist and caretaker. These private and intimate performances oscillate into something tangible through multiple materials that pass through my hands in both roles.
It is a practice of body, science and civics.
-Perreault
Slide Show (at bottom) |
Check Residuals
Photo Credit: Jill Carol This installation is made from 60cc syringes used to feed the artists' son. Checking residuals is an important part of caring for a person who is tube fed. To check residuals means to pull back on the plunger of a syringe that is attached to the person who is dining via a feeding tube. Checking residuals provides information about motility: to see what is left in the stomach before continuing. This metaphor for looking at what is already present before making a move forward, inspired many of the materials Perreault chose for this installation to work in conjunction with the syringes. The piece involves dome mirrors, reflective fabric, translucent resin, ball-chain, high-gloss paint, red thread, glass, wire, beads, and salt crystals. Check Residuals was part of Physical Presence: A Dialogue with Residual and Surrounding Space shown in the galleries of Claremont Graduate University, Curated by Rachel Lachowicz. |
One Step Removed
Bandanas used as filtering masks for the artist's son, were shifted into organic shapes, and reproduced in paintings and sculptures. While the door separating home from art studio was removed and reconfigured as an axis for this installation. The Tender Touch of an Exceptional Motherhood written by Lara Salmon Flux Art Space, Long Beach 
Yellow Sweater
Braided string, suction catheters, metal, enamel paint: Part of Chain Reaction, 2019 installation at Hoyt Gallery, USC, Keck Curator: Ted Meyer "Yellow Sweater" is made from suction catheters and yellow fibers. When I tell you "this is a yellow sweater" repeatedly, you will eventually believe me. This is known as The Illusory Truth Effect where repetition leads to validity even when the information is false. Abusers have used this manipulative strategy throughout history for power.* The tactic was used during the height of progressive stem cell research in 2000, the year my son was born and suffocated. Medical doctors anticipated help would be available within the decade for those with brain injuries like my son's and other neurological disorders, like Parkinson's, Alzheimers and ALS. But religious and political dogma lead to time sensitive setbacks for this responsible research. The harm devastated my family." Illusionary Truth Effect strategies are being used in extreme today. Social media increases the speed in which it spreads.
-Perreault *US examples include The Jonestown Massacre in 1979 and; today's QAnon, seeded in 2017, now bleeding into American politics. |
