William Perillat was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1958, the seventh of eleven children, to Theresa Perillat, a Registered Nurse, and Robert Perillat, a professor of Philosophy. Moved to and attended primary schools in upstate New York, relocating to the west coast at age 18, eventually settling down as a single parent with son Aaron in Ashland, Oregon in 1981, employed in the carpentry trade. Received B.S. in Science from SOU in 2000, graduating with degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Other places of residence include Stinson Beach, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; French Quarter of New Orleans, LA; Woodstock, NY; Fresno, California; New Rochelle, N.Y.; and Manchester, California.
“Wood is a medium which has its own idiom and syntax for the expression of forms idiosyncratic to its unique vernacular. My productions are the result of interaction with wood’s inherent forms. My inspiration is largely derived from the image glimpsed in the wood, and the knowledge of my ability to extract it. Strong inherent form assists in investigating this medium-influence concept, where the medium directs the thematic axis and defines the bounds of the artistic endeavor.
Creating natural-form objects from these organic shapes assures that the thing represented coincides with the manner of representing it. The formalism I can most relate my art to is Expressionism. Among other things, I am attracted to its re-interpretation of the interior model as being as real as our apparent reality. Through this interior reality lies a means for the artist to accurately convey the emotional interpretation of experience. I also believe however that although my art arises from personal realities, and though this individual inclination assists art in retaining its humanity, it remains necessary to strike a balance vis-a-vis an “intellectual clarity-imaginative wisdom-emotional richness” triangle.
With “Surrealistic Expressionism,” it is the artists’ interior that resonates as a plastic medium. The works delve into the articulation of the artists’ archetypal and subconscious personal realities to create pieces that convey intense emotional states and express inner experience. Surrealistic expressionism unfolds as a superb mechanism with which to create pieces that are both emotionally charged and visually captivating. Though wood is the principle vehicle here, it is often through the addition of materials such as stone and metal that these sculptures resolve their ultimate focus. This body of work invites the viewer to examine their own innermost thoughts and feelings, and to question the boundaries of what is real and what is supposition.
Through wood I find a path for release of imaginative themes. In sculpture though, theme is secondary to form, which must be valid of its own. Above all else, a work of art must first be a complete visual experience, grabbing the observer’s emotions and psyche before thoughts interfere. If one adheres to Kandinsky’s maxim that the most important thing is ‘…whether or not the form has grown out of an inner necessity’ – then this inherent justification, this self-sufficiency, becomes attainable.”
