Magazine 32 (EN), Stories (EN)

Alex Perera

The Immobility of Forms

By Maybel Martínez

Cuban reality, for decades, has been complex and contradictory. Like any other context where the subject develops, it is the subject of recurrent approaches and criticisms from social, political and cultural spaces. That apparent calm to which many of us have become accustomed to in our daily lives hides storms.

Alex Perera’s artistic production goes through a constant coming and going to his immediate context. In his series he traces discordant atmospheres, where apparently neutral works are contrasted with aggressive and hurtful exercises. Underneath the visible there are hidden states of mind that are shown through the use of color and the hilarity of the lines. Works that beyond the pictorial surface, are built like layers of onion and boast a marked autobiographical character. According to the artist’s statement, in his creative process he tries to represent on the physical plane, a personal experience generated from his dialogue with the environment, to pretend a reinterpretation of patterns and elements that surround him: stereotypes, teaching doctrines, mass manipulation media (…) which he interprets and modifies, to offer a personal and critical vision of them. 

It is from the theme on which each series is based that the production methods and pictorial language to be followed are established. Alex resorts to various means of realization that fluctuate through the use of engraving, painting and drawing. 

Like a Stone, one of his most extensive series, takes stone as a neuralgic element. In his own words, this object does not try to illustrate nature, but to reverse the process and let nature be the one that generates the illustration, not of images, but of feelings, emotions. Establishing a connection beyond nature and man, waiting for the intangible dimension that generates the visual image in the being. A connection that is nothing more than a temporary portal between the body of the individual and the surrounding environment. It shows the coexistence and importance of the spirituality of the being as a mediator between the physical-natural and the internal-spiritual.

The series reminds me of the myth of Sisyphus, where the Corinthian king, after multiple tricks, obtains a divine punishment, when Zeus imposes on him the eternal task of rolling a rock down a hill in the depths of Hades. A myth that can be considered as a metaphor of contemporary life that compels the subject, like the ancient heroes, to endure extreme circumstances and overcome them. Just as Sisyphus pushes his heavy rock up the mountain, we must become aware of our reality and be consistent with our decisions and the implications they impose on us. Like a Stone plays with the duality of the concept of the immobile, the notion of the static and unchanging as opposed to that being in continuous movement, although we cannot distinguish it. A hidden transformation in nature and in the phenomena of time.

The series Faces shows hurtful beings where he deconstructs the image that the subjects have of themselves in their sociocultural development. The works are a kind of mirror, another, that does not return the image of ourselves that we do not want to see. A hierarchy of domination that is established from homogenizing, indoctrinating and collectivist mechanisms. Works of a clear gestural insistence on the images represented.

Pigs has a much more literal and linear perception, questioning the constructed universe based on social interactions and the morality they impose. Alex states about it: …it is a series where I intend to show the inner part of the human being, his vices, weaknesses, his true identity. For this I represent animals as a symbolic element that allows me to build an analogy to unmask the most specific ways of being, acting and thinking of man. Envy, greed, hatred and why not, also the noblest characteristics such as how docile, obedient and manipulable man can be, are some of the characteristics, curses or vices that are presented in this series as a direct criticism of the social and cultural environment that surrounds me.

Alex Perera’s work alludes to Walter Mignolo’s phrase “I am where I think”, a questioning of the Cartesian axiom “I think, therefore I am”. His production is situated in the here and now that we live, he questions human nature and the context that subjects and power structures wield. Thinking our context without denying the referents that constitute us as human beings. The self as a container of knowledge that generates skills and social masks, according to what is right. Alex ratifies that, in many cases, nothing is what we take for granted at first sight and wield as absolute truths.

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