Winter/Spring exhibit at the Oasis Art Gallery
January 14 – April 22, 2016
Opening reception: Thursday, January 14, 5:00-6:30pm
Santiago Pérez presents his series of fantastical, surreal paintings. Art history, myths, legends, fairy tales, and all things pop culture are the ingredients that go into the synthesizing machine twirling in Santiago Pérez’s head. Mergatroids, pirxes, big heads, walking eyeballs, Spanish infantas andElizabethan princesses, Aztec pilots, Otter Boy, heroic characters riding lions and big white horses – these are just a few of the characters in paintings that re-enact the mystery, strangeness, and beauty of the world in which we live.
Encouraged by his family and an artist uncle, Santiago Pérez practiced drawing and painting, learning mostly by copying from TV cartoons, horse and wildlife magazines, and children’s books on the Wild West. He was an elementary school teacher for a short time, illustrated children’s materials, and then served in the Air Force for 24 years. He pursued his art, practicing figurative drawing and painting, as well as immersing himself in art history. Pérez first exhibited his work when the Air Force stationed him in West Berlin, and he continued to develop his painting in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Denver, Colorado. Pérez lives in Tijeras, New Mexico and continues to work in eclectic styles with subjects ranging from landscapes to cowboys to calaveras. His work has been exhibited in many galleries and museums and is in collections around the country.
