Joel Perlman For Older Children

Introduction

Joel Perlman studied art in New York, California, and London, England. He created abstract steel sculptures that are best seen from the front, like the way we look at paintings. Perlman often creates a heavy steel frame for his sculptures and attaches smaller steel plates to it. In this way, he draws our attention to the sculpture as well as to the subject that it frames. Joel Perlman’s style is geometric abstraction.

Questions

Are the lines of this sculpture horizontal, vertical, or diagonal?

What mood do these lines convey?

Why do you think the artist named this sculpture Square Tilt?

What material was used to create this sculpture?

Activity

Using different shapes and sizes of cardboard or balsa wood, create a rectangular frame and attach geometric shapes to it. Experiment with locating it in different places and study the subjects you frame. How do the subjects change when they are framed versus unframed? How does tilting the frame at various angles change the way they look?

Vocabulary

Diagonal – positioned on a slant

Geometric abstraction – geometric shapes that are not realistic

Horizontal – positioned the same as the horizon and the opposite of vertical

Steel – a strong dark metal

Vertical – positioned upright, like a flagpole, and opposite of horizontal