Joshua Perkin returns to Menorca for his second solo exhibition with Etesian, Eden's Island, a celebration of the island’s architecture, landscapes, and way of life. The exhibition takes its title from the eponymous album by artist and composer Eden Ahbez, whose idyllic vision of island living resonates throughout Perkin’s new body of work.
The title of this series, Eden’s Island, pays homage to the cult album by Eden Ahbez. While listening to the record during the development of the works, Perkin found resonance between the album’s mystical, escapist atmosphere and the emotional tone he intends to create with his paintings. The title ultimately became a fitting reflection of the series’ suspended world:
a place shaped by not only by visual reference, but also by memory, abstraction, emotion and imagination.
The compositional origin of each of the paintings are directly derived from architectural references from the island of Menorca. However, consistent with Perkin’s previous works, each reference is gradually abstracted and transformed through a distinct visual language.
Some of the works feature Perkin’s trademark imagined individuals, as ever using them as compositional devices rather than portraits of real people, with their ambiguous expressions exploring the complexities of human emotion and condition. Other works in the series are void of any human figuration in any form, allowing colour and form to take precedent.
Both individually, and as a collection works they offer a quiet, dreamlike landscape, charged with both tension and serenity, a feeling also transmitted by Ahbez’s 1960’s record. The paintings invite a view of Menorca through Perkin’s lense— one that feels simultaneously intimate, theatrical and psychologically open.
This June, Etesian brings together three solo exhibitions, each presented in a different space within the gallery.
The programme celebrates the unique vision of three artists whose works, while distinct in approach and medium, share a strong sense of presence and individuality. Moving from one room to the next, visitors are invited to experience three separate worlds and the unexpected conversations that emerge between them.
Together, these exhibitions mark the beginning of the summer season and reflect the gallery’s ongoing commitment to presenting thoughtful and engaging contemporary art.
