Aqua: Beautiful hyperrealistic paintings of bathing women by Reisha Perlmutter

Born in Naples in 1990, Reisha received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. During her studies, she attended a residency in Umbria, Italy, where she said her, "love and fascination with the presence of light was reawakened. I watched as the light’s golden aura would play upon the hillsides and along the façades of the medieval buildings in the small town".

Speaking of this particular series, Reisha said: "Aqua is about merging time, about memories becoming present experience. It is about weightlessness, and our deep connection to our senses beyond the confines of thought or intellect. It is about feeling, about oneness, and being.

"Light is critical to these works. It is metaphorical of course in terms of internal illumination, but also directly necessary in evoking sensation and beauty through its presence and inherent complexity. The imagery of this series uses light as its life force. Light and its transience is captured in the moment of a painting's existence, and held. It abstracts the idea of time."

Via direct submission | All images courtesy of Reisha Perlmutter