Art’s responsibility has always been to interpret experiences during trying times; it’s a worthy vessel for our collective remembrances, as well as our trauma. Could there be a more prescient and urgent display of artistic expression in Santa Barbara than Angela Perko’s current show at Sullivan Goss Gallery, The Place of Hidden Things? I doubt it.
Perko’s exemplary, focused, and cohesive collection of paintings speak loudly about pressing issues like the environment, and, most vividly, the challenges to women’s reproductive rights. Her visual and very sensitive handling of these subjects is portrayed in an enduring and classical manner recalling ancient art.
“I’ve always painted in a timeless fashion, but these works make contemporary statements,” the painter tells me. It is a staggering body of work by an artist at her most mature, disciplined, and visionary. ....