Uncategorized – Victor Hugo Perez

SERIE: LOS DISPARATADOS

Erik Castillo

El cuerpo de obra de esta serie contiene una trama crítica que hace frente a la decadencia de los poderes en la dinámica social contemporánea. Ante un mundo que es testigo (y víctima) del retorno de múltiples fascismos, Víctor Hugo Pérez propone una cadena de extravagantes alegorías. Las distintas piezas de la serie recuerdan la fascinación del artista por los Ex votos populares. Sólo que ahora, en lugar de repetir la lógica narrativa de aquellas hermosas pinturas, en las que se observan los hechos milagrosos que las potestades celestiales realizan para los fieles devotos, Víctor Hugo Pérez invierte las retóricas de agradecimiento y pone en evidencia –con actitud crítica y jugando con personajes emblemáticos- las iniquidades que suceden en las altas esferas del poder multinacional.

SERIES: THE RIDICULOUS GANG

The body of work in this series contains a critical storyline that challenges the decadence of power in contemporary social dynamics. Faced with a world that is witness to (and a victim of) the reappearance of multiple forms of fascism, Víctor Hugo Pérez presents a series of extravagant allegories. These pieces bring to mind Pérez’s fascination with popular votive offerings, except that instead of repeating the narrative logic of those beautiful paintings – the ones where miraculous events being carried out by celestial powers for the devout can be observed – Víctor Hugo Pérez reverses the rhetoric of gratitude and exposes – with a critical attitude and with emblematic figures in play – the iniquities that occur in the highest echelons of multinational power.

SERIE: JUÁREZ DESTRUCTOR

SERIE: JUÁREZ DESTRUCTOR DE MONSTRUOS

Erik Castillo

Esta serie, derivada de la de Los Superhéroes, contiene distintas versiones de una actuación mítica de la figura del Presidente Benito Juárez. Representándose en esta ocasión a sí mismo, el Benemérito de la Américas encarna lo que los mitólogos llaman el héroe matador de monstruos. Como Perseo versus Medusa, Krishna versus Anantashayana, Apolo versus Pitón, Teseo versus Minotauro, Hércules versus Hidra, Edipo versus Esfinge, que al vencer a los respectivos monstruos civilizaron la realidad…, en esta Teriomaquia (Batalla de monstruos) Juárez se enfrenta con algunos avatares del bestiario de la Industria del entretenimiento. La recepción interpretativa de la serie, por parte de un espectador incisivo, podría llegar a niveles de connotación política, social o filosófica.

SERIES: JUÁREZ DESTROYER OF MONSTERS

This series, stemming from The Superheroes contains various incarnations of the mythical performance of one of Mexico’s most famous presidents, Benito Juárez. Juárez represents himself on this occasion: the Benemérito de las Américas embodies what mythologists call the hero-slayer of monsters. As with classical examples such as Perseus versus Medusa, Krishna versus Anantashayana, Apollo versus Python, Theseus versus the Minotaur, Hercules versus the Hydra, and Oedipus versus the Sphinx, these heroes defeat their respective monsters on each occasion, thereby civilizing their realities. In Víctor Hugo Pérez´s Teriomaquia (monster battle), Juárez confronts various avatars from the bestiary of the entertainment industry. An astute observer could interpret this series on a number of levels, with political, social and philosophical connotations.

SERIE: LOS SUPERHÉROES

Erik Castillo

El collage es una de las tácticas más influyentes del arte en la Era Industrial Avanzada. Basado en el principio de ‘montar’ materiales de distintos orígenes y cualidades, el collage hecho por artistas plásticos fue contemporáneo de los grandes avances en materia de edición (montaje) de imágenes y luego de secuencias audiovisuales, en el sistema de la producción cinematográfica. En esta serie, Víctor Hugo Pérez incorpora los rostros de las figuras históricas de México que aparecen en los billetes, transformando la identidad de los próceres en la de los superhéroes de los cómics y de los filmes de acción. El resultado es fenomenal, el artista nos pone frente a híbridos histórico-culturales que nos sugieren lecturas cruzadas de atributos políticos, sociales, intelectuales con referencias a sagas de superpoderes ficticios.

SERIES: THE SUPERHEROES

Collage is one of the most influential techniques in art in the advanced industrial era. Based on the principle of assembling materials from diverse origins and of varying qualities, collage as created by visual artists coexisted with great advances in terms of editing (splicing) images and subsequently audiovisual sequences in cinematography. In this series, Víctor Hugo Pérez incorporates the faces of historical figures sourced from peso bills, transforming the faces of national heroes into comic book and action movie heroes. The result is literally fantastic: he brings us face to face with historical-cultural hybrids that lend themselves to interpretations, criss-crossing political, social and intellectual attributes with references to fictitious sagas filled with superpower-endowed characters.

The Ritual and the Habitual

Víctor Hugo Pérez

Erik Castillo

Víctor Hugo Pérez is an extraordinary artist who over the last 25 years has given consistent expression to his very personal neo-expressionist style. His work is an outstanding example of Guadalajara’s cultural scene and has been displayed at a number of museums and cultural centers in Mexico and abroad. His artistic leanings toward the altar of expressionism is not a minor matter. A significant sector of progressive art in Mexico from the 1920s until today has maintained a vigorous dialogue with the avant-garde Expressionism of 1908-1945 and with global expressionist movements that occurred after the 1970s.

The images that Víctor Hugo Pérez creates draw on the incorporation of two simultaneously expressed aspects: iconographic irreverence and visual irony. The former is made clear through themes where black humor and disconcerting images triumph and are combined with the candor of an artist whose imaginarium is ostensibly naïve. The latter has to do with the formal and material resources from both age-old popular art and contemporary urban art that define Víctor Hugo’s execution style – contrasts in color saturation, fading, and graphics originating in pop esthetics. While Víctor Hugo is best known for his painting and sculpture, we now have the opportunity to appreciate several series of his artwork on paper.