Houston Artist James Perez: The Seven Deadly Sins Series & a Brief Artist Bio.

Houston artist James Perez recently sent shock waves through the community with his work, especially in the Heights area, where his last exhibition, the Seven Deadly Sins, was displayed at Cueto James Gallery. Seven large scale paintings - incorporating a wide variety of mixed media including oil paint, crushed glass, gold leaf, glitter, resin, etc - depicted the well known deadly sins in a way that demanded you to confront them head on. What you were forced to confront was not always easy to look at, but that's the point of Perez's work - he wants you to look right into the eye of this evil, and he's not afraid to use unorthodox measures and themes to ensure that you do.

It's unlike anything I've seen before, and no matter how you feel about the work, it will jolt you awake one way or another, and you will walk away thinking about what you've seen. Perez uses surrealism and fantasy to create images that are widely interpreted, often controversially, but they are always ultimately deeply personal to the viewer. By using elements of Pop Art combined with fantasy and surrealism, Perez conveys incredibly strong messages about iconography, making the Seven Deadly Sins series essentially unforgettable...even the local Channel 2 News came out to do a live report on the series!
 

Click HERE to watch a video clip of the Houston Channel 2 news segment regarding the "Pride" painting (features a brief interview with the artist himself).

**The series still currently hangs as the secondary exhibition at Cueto James Gallery, located in the Heights, at 1045 Studewood. For information regarding the gallery or the purchase of any of these works, contact the gallery: cuetojames.gallery@yahoo.com.**

See the series and the artist's explanations of the pieces below, taken from the artist's website:

GREED

This painting depicts famous televangelist Tammy Faye Baker consumed by illness in her later years of life.  This painting is a criticism of the abusive and predatory nature of television fund raising under the guise of Christianity.  This is a current example of the sin of Greed in modern society that condones common con-artistry.

LUST

This painting is not a comment against the Catholic Church, but instead is a statement criticizing the direct involvement of Pope Benedict in the modern Clergy abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church.  This is a current example of the sin of Lust in modern society that has destroyed the faith of millions, yet Benedict is not vilified for his personal involvement.

PRIDE

This painting is not a criticism of Barack Obama or the Government of the United States.  It depicts the sinful nature of Pride as it applies to the ugliness of racism.  We see the terrible consequence of extreme racial pride juxtaposed with the isolated prideful countenance of the victim portrayed.  This is a current example of the way pride of race isolates and divides modern American society.

SLOTH

This painting is a depiction of famous adult film star Jenna Jameson reclining in a bed of cocaine.  This is a criticism of women in modern society who use sexuality as a substitute for education and personal advancement, and thereby fail to contribute to the good of society.  This is a modern example of the way that Sloth dumbs down and degrades our culture through the lack of honest effort and hard work.

WRATH

This paining is a statement about the use of the Word of God as a weapon against humanity.  The well known leader of the 9-11 Terrorist bombings against the United States, Mohammad Atta, is portrayed as a prophet of wrath holding a Koran overflowing with his own misinterpretation of the Spirit of Islam.  This is a current example of the way the sin of Wrath misleads the faithful.

ENVY

This painting is a criticism of the child pageant industry and depicts the ugliness of envy surrounding the youth and beauty of young children.   The monsters and pedophiles attracted by this are a current example of the sin of Envy in modern society that condones the exploitation of children.  (Depiction of Jon Benet Ramsey.)

GLUTTONY

This painting is a representation of Religion, in generic terms, consuming humanity from childhood.  This painting is not a criticism of Catholic or Hindu beliefs, but instead portrays people as the “meal ticket” of organized religion, and depicts the way in which we are consumed by our belief systems from birth.

***

James Perez's biography (taken from his website) is rather enlightening after seeing his work. Read it below.

"My art is designed to move you.  Whether it moves you to the right or to the left, if it moved you I did my job."

- James Perez

As a child, Houston artist James Perez was exposed to an extremist religious cult known as The Children of God (C.O.G.) where he experienced radical expression of organized Christianity in its most bohemian form.  Documented in the book Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult, C.O.G. encouraged prostitution of its female members to raise money for the cult and as a means of finding lost souls with which to share the Word of God.  Like some modern Christian cults today, C.O.G. also believed in alien foundations for humanity.  Under intense scrutiny in the 1980s for its leadership under Moses David, the group was reformed and became known as The Family, which still exists today.  Child survivors of the cult have established forums for expression and communal outcry against the psychological and sexual abuses they sustained under the watchful eye of this Christian sect, often sadly ending in murder and suicide.  Exposure to this communal religious group from an early age predisposed James to a hardened view of the dangers and psychological damage that organized religion can inflict.  James’ art is for him, personally, a way of reminding himself that the messages we receive through organized religion are the design of man, and that they are set apart from belief or disbelief in God.

James' recent work focuses on contradictions in spiritual existence, how our relationship with organized religion fits with human sexuality, social drug abuse, the evil acts of man, and our place as a life form in the universe.  Handled separately, these subjects have benign and factual qualities that we compartmentalize.  When handled together on one canvas, these subjects become increasingly uncomfortable, creating a confusing mixture of emotion more closely imitating the way we feel in the experience of human life.  His paintings ask what we can accept about how our need for an organized explanation of existence clashes with the way we experience life, and ultimately whether we are able to accept the existence of each other.  He uses surrealism and fantasy to create images that are widely interpreted, but which always are ultimately deeply personal to the patrons they speak to.