Numinosity

Perri's paintings of historic San Francisco restaurants are paired with photographs and histories of the locations. Richard Louis Perri (aka Luckey) artistically captures the soul of urban San Francisco. Eschewing the more guilded scenes of the city, Perri in his paintings seeks to portray forgotten figments of little-known structures. His iconic Red's Java House, for example, displays a cafe of San Francisco's waterfront reminiscent of the city's fabled maritime past, now, alas, no longer. In an instant, the painting conjures up both a lost scenario and a relic of this past. One is able to ingest the continuation of a communitarian gathering-place that was once part of the vital fabric of San Francisco's maritime world. An accomplished colorist, Perri's paintings portray a palette of the city's colors that are not usually identified with San Francisco. The urban world that Perri paints is reminiscent of vibrant Mediterranean cities. San Francisco is a multi-faceted metropolis. Some of its fascinating facets are captured in the art of Richard L. Perri. (Charles A. Fracchia).