Tahiti Pehrson – Art Via A Paper Route

Despite first appearances, Tahiti Pehrson‘s work is not about the delicate nature of things. Rather it is constantly evolving image and experience. Especially when he sets them on fire.

His work, which is almost entirely created by layering white pieces of paper on top of each other, speaks to his sense of self, curiosity and consciousness. While these qualities may seem that they should be innate in all artists, often they are not. Pehrson’s work is both fantastical and realistic. Simple and intricate. Absurd yet common place.

His work has been shown in galleries, videos and through music. His pieces for Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart and Them Them is a testament to his versatility. Each piece reflects the artist and their sensibilities while still being decidedly Pehrson-esque. His technique is an obvious fit with other artists who craft their music with details and unexpected twists.

Pehrson’s work, though often stationary, is an exercise in reveals and most definitely worth the trip.

Your pieces have a fairy-tale and innocent quality to them. Where do you find you draw most of your influences from?
I’m interested in how people view my work. I enjoy the openness of interpretation. I, at times, feel like my work can be dark once you get past all the white. I guess fairy tales are like that as well. My own childhood lacked innocence. I grew up in the deep woods of the Northern Californian coast. It was raw and lurid. We lived without modern conveniences or electricity. So you end up doing things with your hands and and your  minds eye. I was very internal and had bad hearing and sick all the time, I was a wreck. So your surroundings inform you and if you look for it I think you can see those things. My work is inspired by actual events and people in my life. It’s important to me that the work is not fiction.

Where did you study?
It’s in my blood. My Dad was my Mom’s art teacher so it was the language of the house. I had the opportunity to see China at a young age and that was eye opening to me. So I was into it in school and after high school traveled  Europe in search of the fire. Started with the big art museums and then some squat art colonies in Berlin and Geneva. When I got back to the O.S. I was looking for something like that. So I attended San Francisco Art Institute for a year and a half. I started as a painter and ended up in welding and playing in a band. It wasn’t going anywhere.

How did you realize you have the skill and patience for this technique?
Art works with the way my mind works it’s like an antidepressant or like brushing your teeth for your mind. It’s a meditation and it’s willpower and those things are satisfying. But all that evolved over time. I had less patience with managers and bosses who wallow in small power. Life is short and miraculous with such brilliance. I needed all of my time to relish it.

What have been your greatest successes and your greatest failures?
My greatest success is defiantly the birth of my daughter. My life kind of started over when she was born. I don’t really see things in terms of failure. In the long approach everything looks different. So I don’t waste time on negativity or try not to. When you fail you learn when you learn you adapt.

Why did you decide to burn your piece Babylon the Bride and turn the burning into a piece of its own?
The piece was kind of an allegory or diary of a turbulent five year period. That chapter had ended and deserved a viking burial. I burned it to memorialize what was for me  of a great love and sorrow. People have a very strong reaction to it, I could have never achieved that as a painter. Our minds have a hard time with the end or death of things which in a way is strange since it is one the most sure attributes of life. So as an exercise I wanted to practice letting go. Or more that I needed to.

Do you have ambitions for your work? Do you see moving into animation or film work at all?
Oh yeah for sure. There is a lot to do. I have a coffee table book coming out this summer. I’m doing it all myself so I’m excited about that. This year is going to be amazing, some really good things are happening right now. My brother Galen is filmmaker and animator in L.A. We have been talking about this kind of thing for a long time. So when we get all our ducks in a row, it will be like a duck eclipse of some kind.

What kind of gallery experience do you hope to give your audience?
At the moment I put shows on hold. I don’t want to do anything until I can do what I want to do. I want everything to be on this new level. It’s getting there. I try to employ some sense of neutrality in the way a piece affects a room. Like a window, if you want to look into it, I want you to be able to get lost in it. And when you walk away it’s not like the Ronald McDonald in the room. I mean I love Jeff Koons M.J. & Bubbles, So maybe I’ll get there.

What is the difference between your wall pieces and your installations? When you have an idea do you immediately know which it will be?
One main difference is scale. I avoid plans for the most part but certain ideas form over time. These days everything is deliberate in the way that each part has a significance or plays at least for me a symbolic role. Again like fairy tales are often metaphors, for more  sanguine cautions of the human condition. So I try to have that going underneath and just throw some mystical nature in there. Also a little humor is appreciated so it’s not a Powder Wig. I guess to me cylindrical things reflect a passing of time in a way. Fragility represents itself in the pieces so sometimes it’s about preserving that and sometimes it’s about being finite.