Alana Perlin

• Alana Perlin - Emanations
• Exhibition: February 11–March 15, 2019
• Reception: Thursday, February 28 at 6:00 pm
• Artist talk at 6:30 pm

Artist Biography

Ms. Perlin's first commission in 1999 allowed her to create a collaborative large-scale mural hung outside of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. When she entered the newly created Design | Media Arts program at UCLA shortly thereafter, several University archaeologists recruited her as a graphic artist to accompany them on excavations across South America. Afterward, her increasing fascination with digital imagery led Perlin to enroll in the inaugural cohort of Digital Arts | New Media graduate students at UCSC. 

While working as a course assistant for topics such as Intro. to Digital Media, Two-dimensional foundations, Drawing, & Intro. to Film, she became devoted to disseminating her knowledge base with students. She's thrilled to continue fulfilling her passion for digital art in higher education as an Art Professor at Merced College. Ms. Perlin maintains an active studio practice and regularly shows her work at venues such as the San Jose Museum of Art in the Bay Area and the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, Mistlin Gallery and Carnegie Center for the Arts in the Central Valley. She’s been awarded two artist residencies at I-Park in East Haddam, Connecticut and recently completed a third residency with the Digital Fabrication Studio.

Artist Statement
Based on my desire to explore new forms of digital imagery, I've designed custom artistic software that generates wild patterns from my hand-drawn animal concepts. Since we find ourselves mired in a technological age typified by consistently wading through digital experiences, my disparate animal and dessert imagery draws inspiration from the abrupt nature in which we experience artwork. Each symmetrical food-themed piece exists as a meditation on the compressed nature of the small “bites” that we’re continually served-up on-screen as encapsulated by digital media.