An Interview with James Perez about the Seven Deadly Sins series.

Artist James Perez (right) with wife Caroline Perez (left).

You mention in your bio that your work addresses the ways our needs for organized religion clash with our life experiences. Where do you fit on that spectrum currently? Do you consider your work to be religious art, or art about religion?

 

I think organized religion is an insidious element of culture that people do not spend enough time really examining for its consequences.  The human experience is a work of art, not a procedure. I don’t believe that subscribing to a belief system designed by someone else is aligned with the goal of understanding what we really are. I think any ideology that encourages people to value faith over reason is really dangerous. My art is about the way people, who are inherently flawed, gravitate toward excuses to be hateful, violent, and lustful and pretend those behaviors are justified by something righteous.

  

When did you come up with the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins series? How did you decide what to include?

 

I started working on the Seven Deadly Sins two years ago and completed the series in just over one year. I was thinking about painting on a subject that had a universal audience and a strong connection to the really ugly things in modern culture that people are largely complacent about. I wanted to make them look at those things so that just for a minute they couldn’t pretend the elephant wasn’t in the room.  I stopped painting for long stretches between each piece while I contemplated the subject that I felt most embodied the next sin.  Then, in a moment I would just see something in everyday life that was really awful and it would invariably fit.  It was important that each one represent an aspect of modern culture that any person could look at and understand, even if they don’t admit it.  

WRATH

In Wrath you depict the Prophet Muhammed in a less than flattering manner. How, if at all, was that piece impacted by the ways controversial depictions of Muhammed have been received in the past?

 

When I painted Wrath, I painted Mohammad Atta as I thought he would like to be painted. Why is it controversial to depict someone else’s truth?  People shouldn’t avoid the reality that glory is really a motive.   Mohammad Atta is like the Muslim Elvis. The thing I find that Muslims won’t say they agree with or disagree with is martyrdom.  I believe it’s because privately they endorse it.

Are you based in Houston? How did you first connect with the Cueto James Gallery?

I am in Houston. Rafael Cueto approached me about showing for the opening. The series was complete and represented the type of work the gallery is focused on supporting. Cueto James Gallery is committed to showcasing local artists that have strong work that may not be well received in galleries with more conventional ownership. Rafael believes in an artists’ right to creative control and is providing a setting where this type of work can be displayed.

Artist James Perez (right) with local DJ Jason Guillory (left).

I see there was an emergency change of venue at an earlier iteration of the show. What happened, and why was the venue changed?

Last year I had a show scheduled in the Houston Pavilions downtown. My work was not well received by the administration of the Pavilions and I was forced to find another venue less than 24-hours prior to the event I spent weeks publicizing. They would not even let me put up a sign to redirect people. I was worried we would lose people because we did not know how to get the word out, but the controversy generated a huge turnout.Roosevelt Lounge on Washington hosted the show for one-night and in the end we felt it was a much better venue.

GLUTTONY

Regarding Gluttony, you write, "This painting is not a criticism of Catholic or Hindu beliefs..." What would you respond to people who say it is critical of Catholicism and/or Hinduism?

I would say that I overtly used Catholic and Hindu imagery to convey that my subject is religion in general.  No single religion is the subject of that painting.  All major world religions are equally guilty of what I am implying about their invasive nature with impressionable minds.

When you say people, particularly children, are the "meal ticket" for religion, surely you don't mean that generally. Do you blame religion itself for the consuming, or particular religious leaders?

I believe that in general.  Religious belief is something that people go out of their way to instill in children.  If children did not have such impressionable minds, and if adults were not working so hard to force feed these ideas into those minds, I think religious ideology would naturally die out.  Religion lives on because people shove it down their kids throats, and those children grow up thinking those ideals are their own.  

How do you expect Lust will be received in Catholic communities? You say it criticizes the pope's "direct involvement" but he is not "vilified." How does that work?

I don’t believe Lust will be received at all in Catholic communities. It’s well known that Benedict was a knowing enabler of pedophilia in the church – a fact which Catholics don’t vilify him for now  --  so why would this painting change that attitude? I expect most will dismiss the image rather than acknowledge the hypocrisy of having someone like that as a spiritual leader.

You say to look for familiar faces in Envy. Who is portrayed in the work?

 
Jon Benet Ramsey, Michael Jackson, John Wayne Gacy and the evil witch from Snow White.  

PRIDE

In Pride, are you responding to racist attacks on the president? If so, any particular ones?

I am not responding to racist attacks on Obama, but there are many messages about the dangers of Pride in this image. I find that a lot of people don’t understand the concept of pride. Somehow people tend to misunderstand that it’s a positive thing, but pride is what racism is all about. I chose pride of race for this sin because I feel that it’s the one people most universally justify to themselves.

In Sloth, you say it's a criticism of certain women. But aren't men to blame for the culture you are criticizing as well?

Yes men are to blame. But I expect women to rise above it.

A group admiring Perez's work.