Joseph Peragine's Four Seasons

The subject of this essay is the acrylic painting Four Seasons by Atlanta based visual artist Joseph Peragine. The painting is a part of the “Transitions: States of Being” exhibition in the local Zuckerman Museum of Art. Peragine has been active for over a decade now; his work, while wildly varied in terms of medium, typically focuses on nature and specifically animals in nature. While this painting is a tame, a black and white painting on canvas, Peragine has ventured into floor to ceiling murals, colorful, huge canvas paintings, detailed nature based dioramas (this painting, like many of his others, is based on one of his previous dioramas), and now recently taxidermy. He explains his obsession with nature in his artwork by exclaiming he

The deer is an intrusive, gargantuan, dominating figure on the canvas. The deer in the painting looks big, and a bit pudgy thanks to the soft, round lines. The deer is emphasized in the piece, evidenced by its sheer size. The leaves, relative to the deer, are also huge so the space on the canvas feels crowded and disorganized, preventing the canvas from ever truly feeling balanced. Deer are typically fast, majestic, skinny, striking figures in artwork; the deer in this painting feels just a little too round and unintimidating. The piece does not seem to have much in the way of variety, but the random intricacies throughout the piece transform an simple, passable painting, to one in which you can spend time picking apart the imperfections that elevate this painting from run of the mill Hallmark card artwork to a gallery worthy, professional painting. Professionalism in art is typically associated with precision, razor sharp lines, and a quest for realism and perfection. Four Seasons has absolutely none of that. By no means is this a haphazardly constructed mess unworthy of presentation; this painting is detailed in ways that bring a sense of harmony to a somewhat quirky