Joel Perlman is best known for his sculptures in welded steel, aluminum and bronze. While creating a five-decade body of work in a uniquely personal style, Perlman obliquely references the welded sculpture of Picasso and Julio Gonzalez; as well as the Futurism, the Bauhaus, and the Russian Constructivism movements. At Cornell, Perlman wishing to weld, was sent to a trade school where his classmates were farmers, bikers, and truck drivers. This began his lifelong interest in machinery, cars, motorcycles, anything that moves fast. The author Phillip Palmedo (Joel Perlman: A Sculptor’s Journey) once described Perlman's work as "built like a Swiss watch, hits like a Mack truck". 
Perlman speaks of his work to David Taylor of Dan’s Papers, “I like all types of metal as they each have special properties. For the large pieces, I use mild steel, which has great weight and strength and oxidizes to a rich brown patina. Welding is easy; figuring out what to do is hard. I also use stainless steel for a muted reflective finish or aluminum when there is a weight issue. For indoor sculptures, I created pieces in Styrofoam insulation sheets and then cast them in bronze…. While I like all metal to look like what it is, what David Smith called ‘truth to materials’ patina can enhance the bronze.” (Dan’s Papers, November 3, 2023).

Perlman was born in New York City and maintains studios in both Tribeca and Watermill, New York. His studies include Cornell (BFA 1965), University of California, Berkeley (MA 1967), and the Central School of Art and Design, London. Since 1973 he has exhibited consistently at the seminal Andre Emmerich Gallery, Kouros Gallery and most recently Loretta Howard Gallery. He is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. His work is included in many public collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Guild Hall Museum, Parrish Art Museum, Nassau County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since 1973, he has taught at The School of Visual Arts.