Chicago-Born Artist Tessa Perutz Paints People as if They Were Lush Landscapes—See Her Otherwordly Work Here

Take a sneak peek at a gallery that has just reopened to the public.

Tessa Perutz, Homme Allongé #1 (Pink/Peach)(2020). Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

As galleries around the world begin to slowly reopen, we are focusing on exhibitions at spaces that are now receiving public visitors. Check out this show at a newly reopened gallery below.

 

Tessa Perutz: Homme Allongé
Through July 5 at Ballon Rouge Collective, Brussels

What the gallery says: “Tessa’s fragmented and often Fauvist landscapes depict colors dancing in form as if in a hallucination. Recently she has started to portray the body itself as a landscape, depicting human curvature in mirroring peaks, fields, and valleys. In this way, she is referencing another tradition as steadfast as the landscape, in looking to the reclining figure.

She mixes paint with sand, and integrates lavender flowers into canvas and paper works as well. Inherently, Tessa’s works are not only visually stimulating but also tactile and sometimes olfactible. While the colors are supra-natural, the visuals and scents are of the earth.”

Why it’s worth a look: The itinerant Ballon Rogue Collective opens pop-up exhibitions around the world, from London to Los Angeles and everywhere in between. The collective was meant to kick off the summer season with a group show in Istanbul titled “Body,” but the shutdown threw that out the window.

Never ones to simply give up, the collective’s members opted to present individual shows by artists who would have been on display together at a storefront in Brussels, where the collective is based. In the first iteration, Chicago native Tessa Perutz’s works evoke the silhouettes of Tom Wesselmann—though in Tessa’s case, she is co-opting the male gaze, and turning it back on itself.

What it looks like:

Installation view, "Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé" at Balloon Rouge Collective, Brussels. : Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Installation view, “Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé” at Ballon Rouge Collective, Brussels.

Installation view, "Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé" at Balloon Rouge Collective, Brussels. : Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Installation view, “Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé” at Ballon Rouge Collective, Brussels. : Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Tessa Perutz, Torso #1 (Frontal view)(2020). Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Tessa Perutz, <i>Homme Allongé Study (Yellow/Cream)</i>(2020). Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Tessa Perutz, Homme Allongé Study (Yellow/Cream)(2020). Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Installation view, "Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé" at Balloon Rouge Collective, Brussels. : Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.

Installation view, “Tessa Pertuz: Homme Allongé” at Ballon Rouge Collective, Brussels. Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo byHugard & Vanoverschelde.

Tessa Perutz, Multi-Colored French Forest in Shadows (Bourgogne), (2020). Courtesy the artist and Ballon Rouge Collective. Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde.