Mario Perez (born June 17, 1943) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n artist.

Art

Perez emigrated to the United States as a teenager and has focused his artistic career primarily on documenting the pre-war

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

of his youth. He is noted for his urban landscapes often recreated from memory. His work has become especially popular in Cuban

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

communities, such as in south Florida, where collectors celebrate his ability to recapture the tone and atmosphere of 1940s and 1950s Cuba before the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. Perez works primarily in a combination of pen/ink and

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, though some of his most noted (and most overtly political) work appears in oil on canvas. These include "La Muerte de

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

", depicting the death of the Cuban national hero and poet who led the nation's independence movement against Spain, and who died in a charge during the

Battle of Dos Rios A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. Perez is also known for his work in charcoal, in particular his series of portraits of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musicians, many of whom performed in Cuba prior to the country's fall to communism. As an untrained artist who grew up on the impoverished streets of Havana, Perez's family had no money to purchase art supplies, leaving him drawing with broken pencil nubs on scraps of paper. He left Cuba at the age of 15, after the death of his mother, and did not return for more than 40 years. A visit to Cuba in 2000, after receiving an entry visa from

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

's government, led to a particularly productive period in his work. Perez's style is classified as

primitive art Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. ...

, also called

naive art Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

, a category used to describe notable work produced by artists without formal schooling, such as

Grandma Moses Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. H ...

, and which captures instinctive artistic expressions without the typical conventions and uniformity of classically educated instruction.

Family

Perez has a wife, Margaret, and three children. Perez currently resides in Yorba Linda, California.

External links

Official Site
Cuban painters 1943 births Living people {{Cuba-painter-stub