Hannah Traore Gallery is pleased to present an all-new body of work by American artist James Perkins at The Armory Show. Known for his distinct visual language that melds sculpture, painting, and performance, Perkins builds on and redefines the philosophies of the Land Art and Minimalist movements though a practice grounded in collaboration with nature. This presentation anticipates the artist’s first museum solo exhibition, James Perkins: Burying Painting, opening September 20, 2025, at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA).
For over a decade, Perkins has been developing what he terms Post-Totem Structures: minimalist sculptures composed of silk, wood, and stone that are partially buried in distinct landscapes where they remain for months or years, before entering the gallery space. Exposed to wind, rain, sun, salt, soil, and even wildlife, the works are gradually altered, stained, and weathered by nature’s elements. In these remote environments, nature becomes an active collaborator, creating intricate color fields and organic patterns. The structures are then “harvested” and the textiles are stretched or reassembled into sculptural paintings. Where early Land Art often imposed monumental forms upon the land, Perkins inverts the paradigm—his works are shaped by the land, not on it. The works at The Armory Show debut an expansion of this practice.
Alongside his signature silk textiles, Perkins introduces velvet, producing more concentrated color fields and ornate textures to heighten the sense of nature’s presence. The material’s tactility can be seen in Your Love is Like a Blanket, 2025, where roots and grains of sand from the artist’s local beach in Fire Island can be seen to cling to the fabric.
Cattle Track 1 and Cattle Track 2 (both 2025) bears the markings of another environment. Created during Perkins’ 2024 residency at SMoCA, the structure was placed and buried in the Sonoran Desert, a landscape and climate drastically different to the artist’s usual beach locales. Yet, Perkins’ ritualistic process and nature’s hand is apparent and ever-present. Whether the palette is composed of the ocean and sand from Fire Island or the dirt and coyotes of the Sonoran Desert, the Post-Totem Structures remain ritual objects and symbolic markers of connection and shared experience, reminding us that we are not separate from the earth, but fundamentally part of it.
Hannah Traore Gallery is pleased to present an all-new body of work by American artist James Perkins at The Armory Show. Known for his distinct visual language that melds sculpture, painting, and performance, Perkins builds on and redefines the philosophies of the Land Art and Minimalist movements though a practice grounded in collaboration with nature. This presentation anticipates the artist’s first museum solo exhibition, James Perkins: Burying Painting, opening September 20, 2025, at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA).
For over a decade, Perkins has been developing what he terms Post-Totem Structures: minimalist sculptures composed of silk, wood, and stone that are partially buried in distinct landscapes where they remain for months or years, before entering the gallery space. Exposed to wind, rain, sun, salt, soil, and even wildlife, the works are gradually altered, stained, and weathered by nature’s elements. In these remote environments, nature becomes an active collaborator, creating intricate color fields and organic patterns. The structures are then “harvested” and the textiles are stretched or reassembled into sculptural paintings. Where early Land Art often imposed monumental forms upon the land, Perkins inverts the paradigm—his works are shaped by the land, not on it. The works at The Armory Show debut an expansion of this practice.
Alongside his signature silk textiles, Perkins introduces velvet, producing more concentrated color fields and ornate textures to heighten the sense of nature’s presence. The material’s tactility can be seen in Your Love is Like a Blanket, 2025, where roots and grains of sand from the artist’s local beach in Fire Island can be seen to cling to the fabric.
Cattle Track 1 and Cattle Track 2 (both 2025) bears the markings of another environment. Created during Perkins’ 2024 residency at SMoCA, the structure was placed and buried in the Sonoran Desert, a landscape and climate drastically different to the artist’s usual beach locales. Yet, Perkins’ ritualistic process and nature’s hand is apparent and ever-present. Whether the palette is composed of the ocean and sand from Fire Island or the dirt and coyotes of the Sonoran Desert, the Post-Totem Structures remain ritual objects and symbolic markers of connection and shared experience, reminding us that we are not separate from the earth, but fundamentally part of it.
