Karchi Perlmann

CODE is a collection of images that have been deconstructed within its digital file, or in other words, hacked in its “DNA.” Toppling the code of the original image file can affect properties such as contrast, RGB (Red-Blue-Green) values, and the pixel properties’ structure and order. It may even cause an image to cease to exist. These changes appear like glitches from a motion picture, presenting new forms and conditions, contributing to the large-scale artworks’ prominent and subtle sensory experience. While Perlmann specifically targets certain image properties, the final results are always unexpected and randomly calculated, leaving traces of human activity in the subject’s virtual and physical environment.

This ongoing body of work is rooted in the conventions of the alternative processes of photography. However, this exhibit pushes beyond these processes by examining the foundation and entity of an image. Perlmann proposes the following questions for consideration when viewing his work: is an image a virtual or physical entity? Is a traditional photograph an image or a physical expression of a perception? Are all visual artists, in essence, image makers, constructors of ideas and concepts, generators of mirages of a world that resides in the human psyche? And lastly, what is the place of an image in the human experience? Leaving to interpretation whether an image’s building blocks are its code or the image is, in effect, a code of human perception.

Perlmann is interested in creating images that yield an exchange between reason and the enigmatic, or the explainable and unexplainable. Many of his works are reactive for both the viewer and himself, “giving voice to profound encounters that trigger the instinctive, emotional, and intellectual self.” Perlmann was born in Budapest, Hungary, where his journey began as a photographer, independent filmmaker, and imaging artist. He currently resides in Los Angeles, where his work focuses on Southern California and his immediate environment.