Math Art Consulting International Fine Art Consulting • Sales • Installation
...integrating the mathematical and scientific with the creative and artistic.
Charles O. Perry

Charles O. Perry is a creator and artist of many dimensions who ponders the wonderful mysteries of the universe. His large scale and monumental sculptures celebrate and question the laws of nature. It is his intuitive investigation of nature's variables that provides the springboard for many of Perry's concepts. Believing that sculpture must stand on its own merit without need of explanation, Perry's work has an elegance of form that masks the mathematical and scientific complexity of its genesis.
Perry has always extolled the beauties of nature and the nature of materials. Beginning with watercolors of his native Montana, inventing equipment to improve his tour of duty in Korea, celebrating Japanese reverence for natural materials in architecture and returning to America to study art and architecture at Yale University in 1954, he has embraced the "what if's". While Perry was at Yale it was the Chairman of the Art School, Joseph Albers, who encouraged Perry to play with materials and to "discover their true nature". As a student, Perry invented a complex building brick that needed no mortar and was unrestricted by the limits of size. This mathematically based form was the result of wonder whether the rhombus shape could be changed to become something else. The concept was intuitive, the result was visual art. The piece was later shown at Spoleto's Festival, 1969, in Spoleto, Italy.
After graduating from Yale, Perry practiced architecture from 1958-1963 in San Francisco, California with the firm of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill. During his architectural career he had developed many sculptural models and was offered a one-man sculpture show in San Francisco. At the same time, he won the Prix de Rome, a prestigious award granted by the American Academy in Rome for two years study in Italy. Prior to leaving for Rome in 1964, he had secured two major sculpture commissions. "The basic difference in the discipline of architecture and sculpture is that I can't force a solution in sculpture, where in architecture, one can arrive at an apparent 'rational' solution through continual work." For Perry, the appropriateness of the form is the final goal or criteria.
Since 1964, Perry has concentrated on large scale public sculpture, the most prestigious of which stands in front of the National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C. The piece, "Continuum", began as an exploration of the Mobius strip, a product of pure mathematics formed by joining two ends of a strip of paper after giving one end a 180 degree twist, thus creating only one edge. The center of the bronze sculpture symbolizes a black hole, while the edge shows the flow of matter through the center from positive to negative space and back again in a continuum.
"When I set off to be an artist, I would avoid the arbitrary, esteem the orders of God in Nature, make things that were beautiful, try to make things that appeared to have no author, things you thought you had seen before; entwined with mathematics, geometry, topography, spinning, interlocking, always saying thank you God."Perry's sculptures are located in public spaces at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Harvard University, Boston, MA; University of Connecticut at Storrs, CT; Zeimu University Tokyo Japan; Indianan University Museum of Art, Bloomington, IND; General Electric headquarters, Fairfield, CT; IBM Headquarters, Charlotte, NC; Shell Oil, Melbourne, Australia and Singapore. There are about ninety major commissions throughout the world.
As an industrial designer, Perry had invented three unique IBD prize winning chairs. His patents on chair design are licensed to Krueger International, Virco, and Steelcase.
On occasion, Perry designs other objects of art such as a collection of jewelry and silver for Tiffany, NY and puzzles sold through the Museum of Modern Art. A chess set composed of two tubes that when taken apart contain all the game pieces is in the Design Collection of MoMA. In recent years, Perry has lectured on mathematics and art in conferences throughout the world.

BORN
1929 - Born in Helena, Montana, USA

EDUCATION
1958 - Master in Architecture, Yale University
1969 - Artist in Residence at American Academy in Rome
1973 - Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

SOLO SHOWS IN:
Westport, CT
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Hanover, NH
Jacksonville, FL
London, Great Britain
New York City, NY
Rome, Italy
Saint Gauden’s Museum, Cornish, NH
San Francisco, CA
Torino, Italy

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2005 - National Academy of Design, New York City, NY
2005 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
2000 - The Cooper Union, New York City, NY
2000 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
2000 - The Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT
1998 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1994 - National Academy of Design, New York City, NY
1992 - National Academy of Design, New York City, NY
1990 - New Canaan Library, New Canaan, CT
1989 - Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY
1989 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1988 - Hunter College, New York City, NY
1988 - Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1988 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1988 - National Academy of Design, New York City, NY
1987 - Hypergraphics International VIII, Rhode Island
1987 - Sculpture as Public Art, ISC, Washington, DC
1986 - Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY
1985 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1984 - Sculptors’ Guild, Lever House, New York City, NY
1979 - Jewelry Collection at Tiffany’s, New York City, NY
1977 - Quadriennale d’Arte di Roma, Italy
1970 - Venice Art Biennale, Italy
1969 - The Jewish Museum, New York City, NY
1968 - Festival of the Two Worlds, Spoleto, Italy
1966 - Whitney Museum Annual, New York City, NY
1966 - American Academy in Rome, Italy
1964 - Whitney Museum Annual, New York City, NY
1964 - American Academy in Rome, Italy

Photography Shows of commissioned work:
1985 - Katonah Gallery, NY
1985 - Westport Center of Arts, CT
1985 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1985 - Darien Library, CT,1985 Dartmouth College,Hanover,NH
1984 - Adelle M Gallery, Dallas, TX

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art Museum at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Contemporary Arts Society, London, Great Britain
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, FL

SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Marcel Breuer
E.C. Bassett
Morley Baer
Giovanni Carandente
W.W. Foshay
Betty Guiberson
Wanda Hansen
Joseph Hirshhorn
Douglas Lewis
Walter Netsch
Nagari
Gyo Obata
Nathaniel Owings
Betty Parsons
I.M. Pei
John Portman
Richard Pugh
Man Ray
Harry Seidler
Rufus Stillman
Edward D. Stone, Jr.
James Walton
Bruce Warwick

AWARDS
2003 - The Agop Agopoff Prize for Sculpture-National Academy of Design
1998 - International Design Exposition, Canada
1992 - Product Design Award, Institute of Business Designers
1990 - International Design Exposition, Canada
1987 - National Academy of Design Award Best of Show, Sculpture
1971 - American Iron & Steel Institute: Citation for Excellence in Fine Art
1964 - "Prix de Rome" in Architecture
1969 - American Iron & Steel Institute: Citation for Excellence in Fine Art
Premio Emilia, Bologna, Italy (Trophy award)

PUBLICATIONS
Who’s Who in Art
Who’s Who in America
1999 - Ars Symmetrica, Budapest, Hungary
1998 - Mathematics & Design, San Sebastian, Spain
1998 - Bridges, Winfield, Kansas
1993 - El Observador Economico (Montevideo, Uruguay)
1992 - Leonardo (Vol. 25)
1992 - Designer Dialect (Melbourne, Australia)
1992 - The Advocate (Stamford, CT)
1991 - Time Magazine,
1991 - Fortune Magazine
1991 - New York Times
1991 - Wall Street Journal
1991 - Interiors
1991 - Contract Magazine
1991 - Popular Science
1990 - Architecture
1986, ‘87,‘88,‘89 - Northeast Magazine/Hartford Courant
1988 - The New York Art Review (Third Edition)
1988 - Shaping Space, Boston, MA
1987 - Coin World
1986 - FDQ Design South (Orlando, FL)
1985 - Connecticut Country Life
1981, April - Fortune Magazine
1980, January - Fairfield County Magazine
1977, October - AIA Journal
1976 - Outdoor Sculpture by M. Robinette
GA (Global Architecture magazine) # 28
Form follows Fiasco by Peter Blake
1973, July - Architecture Plus
1972, April - Architectural Forum

REVIEWS
1988 - The Palm Beach Post,
1987 - Spotlight
1987 - Art & Environment
1987 - Coin World
1986 - The Sunday Times, Singapore
1986 - Arts & Entertainment, Hartford Courant
1986 - Arts News/Art Council, Tampa, FL
1986 - Tampa Tribune, Tampa, FL
1985 - Westport News, Westport, CT
1984 - Aiken Standard, Aiken, SC
1984 - Knoxville News-Sentinel, TN

VARIOUS REVIEWS IN
The New York Times
Boston Globe
Christian Science Monitor
The Advocate (Stamford, CT)
New Canaan Advertiser
The Hour (Norwalk, CT)
The Norwalk News
San Francisco Chronicle
Rome Daily American
El Messagero (Rome, Italy) and others

LECTURES
2002 - Art & Mathematics, Venice, Italy
2000 - Art & Mathematics, Cooper Union, Nyc.
2000 - Mathematics and Culture, Bologna, Italy
2000 - Colloque Mathematiques et Arts, Maubeuge, France
2000 - Wenner-Gren Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden
1998 - University of California, Berkeley, CA
1998 - Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas
1998 - University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian, Spain
1996 - Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
1995 - The Century Association, New York City, NY
1994 - American Ass. for the Advancement of Science, San Francisco
1993 - Yale University, New Haven, CT
1993 - Silvermine Guild, New Canaan
1992, '93 - SUNY, Albany, NY
1992 - Lecture tour, (six cities) Australia
1991 - Scripps College, Claremont, CA
1990 - Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, FL
1989 - State University of New York, Stonybrook, NY
1989 - New Canaan Library, New Canaan, CT
1988 - Rhode Island College, RI
1986 - Silvermine Guild for Arts, New Canaan
1985 - Katonah Gallery, Katonah, N.Y.
1985 - Westport Center of Arts,Westport, CT
1984 - Darien Library, Darien, CT
1983 - Stamford Library, Stamford, CT
1982 - The New School, New York City, NY
1981 - Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston, MA
1981 - Columbia University, New York City, NY
1981 - Hunter College, New York City, NY
1981. '86 - Yale University, New Haven, CT (architectural jury)

ASSOCIATIONS
National Academy of Design, New York City
The Century Association, New York City
International Sculpture Center
Society of Fellows-American Academy,Rome

SIGNIFICANT LIFE EVENTS
1929 - Born in Helena, Montana, USA
1958 - Master in Architecture, Yale University
Licensed and practiced architecture, San Francisco, CA
1964 - First one-man show in sculpture, San Francisco, CA
1964 - First sculpture commission, Fresno, CA
1964 - "Prix de Rome" in architecture
1964 - Moved to Rome, Italy, and practiced architecture and sculpture
1967 - First one-man show in New York City, NY
1967 - Chess set design and "Perrygons" a construction toy, marketed by the Museum of Modern Art — MOMA
1968 - First outdoor sculpture show, "Festival of Two Worlds," Spoleto, Italy
1969 - Artist in Residence at American Academy in Rome
1969 - Venice Biennale, group print show
1973 - Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1977 - Returned to live in Norwalk, CT, USA
1979 - First show in jewelry design, "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" New York, NY
1982 - Puzzle designs marketed by MOMA, Smithsonian I., et al
1991 - "Perry" chair design launched by Krueger International
1995 - "Virtuoso" chair design launched Virco
1997 - "Uno" chair design launched by Steelcase, Inc.
1980-2003 - Lecture participation in design, sculpture, symmetry, "art and math," in USA, Australia, Argentina, Sweden, France and Italy — see Lectures
1970-2005 - Installation of large outdoor and indoor sculpture — see Commissions