Profile of Fabian Perez - The Artist
Fabian Perez was born in Buenos Aires in 1967 and brought up in the small but dynamic Argentinean city of Campana 50 miles outside the capital. From the age of nine Fabian felt at home holding a paintbrush, producing surprisingly mature portraits of family and friends. Fabian's extraordinary parents played a huge part in his creative development; Mrs Perez was artistic and imaginative, while Mr perez was a fascinating figure - well known locally as a somewhat clandestine character with a hand in various business dealings that operated after dark in the nightclubs and on the streets of the city.
His father's activities meant that the young Fabian Perez was exposed to an interesting cast of characters, from handsome men who lived their lives on the edge to women who, as he himself puts it, "could seduce a man simply by lighting a cigarette". Add to this a world of sultry and glamourous tango dancers, flamenco guitarists and gypsy musicians, and Fabian's stunning paintings fall into context as atmospheric representations of forbidden sensuality and unnamed desires.
At the age of 16 Fabian Perez lost his mother, and at 19 his father followed, leaving Fabian bereft. His search for an anchor in his life led him to the pursuit of self knowledge through martial arts, and through this search he met the second great influential figure of his life who was to become his Karate master. His exceptional skill at Karate introduced discipline into a life which had been ruled by passion and instinct, and encouraged Fabian to take charge of his own future. Perez decided to leave Argentina and travelled around Brazil, Italy and Japan before settling in Los Angeles in Spring 200I. It was here that his work was noticed by the official artistic establishment, and before long he was holding sell out exhibitions and publishing his work to great critical acclaim.
Although Fabian Perez admires various schools of art including the Impressionists, he is reluctant to have his work categorised. It is perhaps best to refer to his own description - "Emotionalism" - which best sums up his uniquely expressive style. Having experimented extensively with watercolour, tempura and acrylics Perez settled some years ago on oils as his preferred medium, as he believes they allow him to achieve the atmosphere of compressed energy and passion within his work, and allows his beautifully described figures to live and breathe on the canvas.
