MFA Chair Perin Mahler to exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery

Chair of the Masters of Fine Art Program, Perin Mahler, is a finalist in the prestigious Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. His painting "Practicalities" will be on display at the gallery in Washington DC for 10 months from October 23, 2009 to August 22, 2010.

"It's an incredible honor to be included in this prestigious exhibition. I have followed the careers of many of the notable artists and critics on the jury panel, and am pleased to be recognized by them. I am also excited that they stretched the traditional concept of the portrait to include my painting "Practicalities" in the show. The painting is not only a portrait of my wife Juliet, but also of our domestic life in general. We will both be pleased to attend the opening in Washington in October," said Perin.

The esteemed jury for this competition includes Martin E. Sullivan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery; Carolyn Kinder Carr, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery; Wanda Corn, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professors in Art History at Stanford University; Brandon Fortune, Curator for the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery; Kerry James Marshall, Artist; Brian O'Doherty, Artist and Critic; and Peter Schjeldahl, Art Critic for The New Yorker.

"Practicalities" Statement by Perin Mahler

My current work consists of large-scale figure paintings dealing with the subject of domesticity. I'm interested in the idea of routine and the responsibilities that accompany marriage and parenthood. These paintings, of which "Practicalities" is a prime example, use objects to represent these duties and often involve the human subjects being overwhelmed by them. In "Practicalities", my wife is all but buried in the accoutrements of our daily life; the feet of my own reclining figure are depicted on the lower right side. The painting was inspired both by the actual messy accumulation of things in our living space as well as the anxiety and fatigue that can be associated with domestic life.

For more information visit http://www.portraitcompetition.si.edu/index.html

Image: Practicalities, Oil on canvas