Artist Peter D. Gerakaris cites a favorite John Steinbeck quote that encapsulates the ethos of this exhibition: “It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again.”

In “Oculus Serenade,” Gerakaris’s selection of vibrant tondo paintings, works on paper, and mosaic artworks focuses our gaze on the wondrous natural world. He describes these round compositions as “merging microscopic and macroscopic perspectives, which speak to the interconnectedness of life at all scales.” As luminous portals called oculi, the works present motifs like endangered botanicals, exotic avian species, topographical forms, and aquatic life. The artist has firsthand experience of these subjects through trekking in semi-tropical jungles, scuba diving amongst fragile coral reefs, or hiking along the Housatonic in Cornwall.

As a visual artist who’s also a musician, Gerakaris feels colors vibrate like sound, where the imagery of his oculi “reverberate like stereographic, kaleidoscopic vignettes, helping to bridge nature and culture.”

Gerakaris’s exhibit features four uniquely hand-embellished prints and a shimmering cut-glass mosaic that orbit around a hand-painted, four-foot diameter “Orchid Oculus Tondo.” This central painting evokes a dreamlike cosmos where viewers encounter endangered parrots from St. Lucia and larger-than-life tropical orchids flowing amongst rhythmic foliage. With a harmonious composition, the meticulously layered elements are hand-painted with a call-and-response process where the artist allows chance spills, drips, and dyes to remain exposed—an approach likened to “visual jazz” by curator Simon Watson.

The result is exotic transport beyond our winter environs, and a rare glimpse of the artist’s oculus strand across different media. Like a newly formed sextet performing in concert, this exhibit offers an engaging visual serenade.

American interdisciplinary artist Peter D. Gerakaris creates vibrant paintings, public installations, origami sculptures, and mosaics that engage nature-culture themes through a global lens. His work has been featured in numerous exhibits around the world, and has had art acquired by many institutional and private collections at home and abroad. He has mounted several major projects for the Berkshire Botanical Garden (BBG), including the large-scale “Spotted Owl Mosaic”—a site-specific installation in the garden curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody in 2021 for the BBG’s permanent collection. Gerakaris was subsequently the BBG’s Featured Artist for Summer 2024 with his solo exhibition “Microcosms.”

Artist’s Reception on Saturday, January 17, 4-6 PM.
Registration requested for reception at https://cornwalllibrary.org/events/