Gustavo Pérez

Proyectos Monclova presents the exhibition Cartas by the artist and ceramist Gustavo Pérez.

The artist presents his most recent production, consisting of thirty-six square and rectangular ceramic plates intervened with various graphic elements, organic trajectories, and geometric patterns.

The exhibition combines Pérez's concerns about materials, the ceramics process, and graphics throughout his professional career, as well as technical and formal exploration in his works. The title of the exhibition refers to the encounter between visual language and calligraphy expressed in each piece. Each ceramic plate evokes an exercise in writing but also the recognition of encoded messages, so the arrangement of the pieces alludes to the construction of a correspondence.

Gustavo Pérez's work with ceramics stems from a research process in which understanding clay is crucial. This exploration has led the ceramist to develop alternative ways of creating, particularly new ways of thinking about the surface of the material. This is where the delicate incisions in his ceramics arise. On one hand, these incisions appear on the pieces as drawings on clay: points and lines become significant as fundamental elements in visual creation. On the other hand, these thin lines have been described as "subtle wounds," referring to an incision achievable in ceramics at high temperatures, much like achieving a perfect cut on the skin with the aid of a scalpel.

Gustavo Pérez's works demonstrate how ceramic creation involves the hybridization of manual production and technique; that is, the manual manipulation of organic material and the use of tools like the lathe, which allows for more precise shaping.

Gustavo Pérez (Mexico City, 1950) is an artist. He studied at the School of Design and Crafts of Ciudadela, where he had teachers such as Enrique Rangel, Felipe Bárcenas, and Martín Lima; later, he studied at St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda, Netherlands, where he had the opportunity to learn from master Johan van Loon. He is currently a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.

He has had significant solo and group exhibitions, including: Gustavo Pérez. Recent Work, Palace of Fine Arts Museum, Mexico City, Mexico; Communicating Vessels, Carrillo Gil Art Museum, Mexico City; Gustavo Pérez. Ceramics, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City; Retrospective Gaze, Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City, Mexico; The Ceramics of Gustavo Pérez, Macay Museum, Yucatán, Mexico; Gustavo Pérez, Recent Work, Manuel Felguérez Museum of Abstract Art, Zacatecas, Mexico, among many others. His work is part of permanent collections of institutions such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, Mexico; The Museum of Ceramic Art, Shiga, Japan; and The Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Canada, to name a few.

— Proyectos Monclova