Naples International Film Festival
Poster Art
Reisha Perlmutter. Seraphinite, 2017. Oil on canvas. 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist. © Reisha Perlmutter.
Artist
Reisha Perlmutter
The poster art for the 2017 Naples International Film Festival was created by Naples-native, Reisha Perlmutter. Perlmutter is a New York based artist, whose hyperrealist paintings leave no one indifferent. Her inspiration comes from the childhood memories of light and nature, alongside her growing up near the water in Southwest Florida. In her work, Perlmutter turns the past into present experiences, helping the viewers to connect with their senses which exist out of the comfort zone. Illumination, with all its omnipresent energy and complexity, deliberately evokes the feelings of the sensation and beauty.
The artist was born in Naples in 1990. Reisha first expanded her language and thought process at Bates College in Maine. After two years, she transferred to the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where she received an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, with a focus on painting. There she was mentored by the portrait artist Susanna Coffey, who influenced her work very much. During this period, she also had a one-year residency in Umbria, Italy. After graduation, Perlmutter attended classical French atelier painting and drawing courses at Studio Escalier in Paris and in the Loire Valley. The artist earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in figurative painting and anatomy from the New York Academy of Art.
In her art, the author traditionally recreates realistic aquatic portraits, which show a self-portrait or a woman’s face, immersed in water. Each painting represents a journey to the past, reviving the memories like the one when the light appears on the surface after the rain, or when the light’s golden aura shines over hillsides and facades of the medieval buildings. A lot of Reisha’s compositions are inspired by her memories of the Gulf of Mexico, so in creating these paintings the artist tries to keep the feeling of Florida last forever. Throughout these works, Reisha has been looking to create a new language that would communicate, and represent a connection with the environment, biology, and physicality. Hence, her works are a reflection of the relationship between people and nature.