Joseph Peragine's entertaining and confounding new paintings take the sport of wrestling to a new level, as his grappling protagonists morph into the shape of mandalas, in the struggle for self-reunification.

For his first exhibition at Marcia Wood Gallery, the popular Atlanta based artist Joseph Peragine, will present new paintings, drawings and an animation, in the exhibition entitled “Grappling Mandala”. Continuing his practice of exploring questions of strength and vulnerability, power and impotence, through series with varying subjects - from rabbits, to tanks, to detective novel illustrations, to ants - Peragine’s current vehicle is the sport of wrestling. The wrestling figures are turned in on themselves in mandala-like perfect symmetry, creating compositions that are simultaneously meditative, provocative and comical.

Joseph Peragine's work has been presented in galleries, contemporary art spaces, and museums throughout the country and internationally. The scope of Peragine's multi-disciplinary practice encompasses public art projects and commissions, including exhibitions at Art in General in New York City, Islip Museum of Art, West Islip, NY, Sunken Garden Park, Atlanta, and the permanent installation for the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, for which he was also awarded an Atlanta Urban Design Commission Award of Excellence for Public Art, as well as being noted one of the best public art projects in 2001 in Art in America. In 2001 Peragine was invited to exhibit his work and participate in an international symposium on art and science in Beijing, China, hosted by Tsing Hua University and the National Museum of Fine Art of China. Peragine's animations have been exhibited at the Palm Beach ICA, Florida, the Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN, MOCA GA, Atlanta, GA, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX and the Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival, among others. His paintings, drawings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries including Solomon Projects, Atlanta, Atlelie397, Sao Paulo, Brazil, David J. Spencer Museum at the CDC, Atlanta, Agnes Scott College, Dalton Gallery, Decautur, GA, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, the UA Museum of Art, and Kress Gallery, Tucson, AZ, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.

Peragine was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1961. He completed his undergraduate work in fine art at the University of Georgia, Athens, and in 1995 received his MFA in painting from Georgia State University, Atlanta, where he is currently an Associate Professor in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. He recently completed a prestigious five year studio residency at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.