Shannon Martin Perkins

Fine Art – Painting / Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

School of Fine Art

Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary is a collection of large-scale oil paintings that reimagine everyday objects through heightened perception and painterly intensity. The works are contemporary still lifes featuring familiar items—rendered with exaggerated temperature shifts, where warm light and cool shadows activate the surface. The deliberate use of complementary colors pushes vibrancy, causing objects to visually pulse and emerge from the canvas.

While the paintings initially read as hyper-realistic, closer inspection reveals expressive brushwork and unexpected passages of color, creating a dynamic tension between illusion and abstraction. Background elements are often softened or blurred to enhance depth, allowing focal objects to move forward with a heightened sense of presence.

A central concept throughout the series is interconnectedness. Objects reflect onto one another beyond what the eye naturally perceives, creating a visual dialogue where color and light bounce across surfaces. These amplified reflections suggest that nothing exists in isolation—each form is influenced by and actively shaping its surroundings.

This body of work builds on traditional still life painting but departs from observation alone, pushing toward an interpretive realism that merges perception, emotion, and environment. The result is a collection that transforms the overlooked into something immersive, inviting viewers to reconsider the beauty, energy, and relational nature of the everyday.