Endangered animal species feature in artist Lily Perthuis gorgeous art

French born Lily Perthuis, studied arts in Paris and now resides in Australia. She has always fought the conventions that grass is green and water is blue. Her large scale paintings are rich with intense colour and her brush and palette knife strokes capture the essence and personalities of the animal and female subjects she depicts.

Lily was influenced by the French masters such as artist Henri Matisse. “He really shaped my thinking and perception of the world and his use of colours is captivating”. She believes that being an artist is to imagine beyond the existing norm, to examine and reexamine, and to tell stories, convey an idea or spark emotions. For Lily, the essence of being an artist is to address political or social issues, and she has certainly taken on this mantel.

In 2010, she started working with a colleague to highlight her deep interest in wildlife preservation. She gathered data and created a series of portraits of endangered animals using the current total population of the species in a form of data visualisation.

The art raised public awareness of endangered species and the project was named ‘Endcount’; the artworks raised money for charities and brought attention to the issue. They had 2 successful exhibitions with a Paddington gallery, participated in Sydney festival and worked with charities and campaigns such as Rainforest2Reef.

Her journey has also brought more success: “I was the selected artist for the digital wall featured in Miami Scope Art, was finalist at Chippendale New World Art Prize, did exhibitions at a Paddington gallery, was part of the Sydney Art & Design Festival organised by the Powerhouse Museum, and won many awards in Design and Arts such as the Excellence in Design and Illustration Award in 2015 published by The Australian newspaper.

We’re very happy to have Lily Perthuis’ work available in our online art gallery and to support such an approachable and environmentally concerned campaigner.

ARTFULY.COM/ARTISTS/LILYPERTHUIS