Through drawing, sculpture, and video, Javier Pérez explores contemporary representations of the body. In contrast to the anatomical and identity-based images that surround us, the artist prefers to convey the body’s sensual and poetic evolution, open to all forms of transformation.
Since every body is multifaceted, the artist embraces—without hierarchy—the fantasies and contradictions that govern it, allowing the effects of meaning and intuition to flow freely. Presented as a space where the notions of boundaries and becoming are explored, the body lends itself to all manner of transformations, shifting from its social roles to its inner experience, from its openness to the world to its existential isolation. His approach is reminiscent of certain works by Borges or Kafka. Javier Pérez deconstructs rigid definitions of the body to visualize living matter and invite viewers to experience its vibrations and resonances.
Mindful of the aesthetic impact of his works, Javier Pérez pays close attention to the inherent properties of materials: glass and ceramics are shaped to ultimately reveal unexpected forms. Many of his works thus defy any claim to truth: they oscillate between beauty and repulsion, fragility and solidity, opacity and revelation.
The exhibition at La Criée features six series of recent works, including sculptures and drawings.
-- Mutaciones IV and Mutaciones VI (2004) were originally created for the Reina Sofia Museum exhibition held within the striking steel-and-glass architecture of the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid. By combining the material properties of nickel and mirror, sand and resin, Javier Pérez creates hybrid forms that straddle the boundaries between the plant, the mineral, and the organic. The reflections of the surrounding spaces on the mirrored surfaces create a visual composition that opens up an unlimited space for the body.
-- Tempus fugit (2002-2004) features a cluster of suspended glass bells. With their crystalline tone, they sound the death knell for a bygone era, while light is absorbed and reflected within them. The body and time share an ambivalent relationship: movement, change, and cycles are also synonymous with fragility, instability, and disappearance.
-- Desaparecer dentro (1995-2005) is a wool installation, dyed red: it depicts the head and shoulders encased in cerebral convolutions. The mask—a recurring motif in Javier Pérez’s art—brings together container and contained, surface and depth. Its mirror-like effect imbues the figure with a more complex, invisible depth.
-- Capillares II (2002) explores the visual and allegorical connotations of horsehair. Also dyed red, this 3.50-meter-long woven piece may evoke the final branches that carry blood, with the spine providing the axis of balance.
-- Animal-Vegetal (2001) places the human figure at the heart of this series of drawings, using a combination of motifs and innovative forms.
-- Metamorfosis (2004) features fifty-two ink drawings in which animals, plants, and humans merge. The lines weave together to form a new entity.