Biography
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Introduction
Over the years, Fabian has explored different paths in search for greater self expression and artistic truth. His tenacity and dedication have led him to be recognized at an international level as one of the best portrait painters of the century and considered by the media as the best contemporary figurative artist of his generation.
SALIDA – the beginning
Born in 1967, and raised in Campana – just 50 miles from Argentina’s scintillating capital city, Buenos Aires – Fabian’s early years were spent in the company of intensely conflicted characters. He lived on the edge of a dark yet exciting world: befriended and cared for by girls that other schoolboys were being warned about; glamorous tango dancers, flamenco guitarists and gypsy musicians; sultry women who could seduce a man with a lingering unspoken invitation, and swarthy men who were battling with the demons of their own conflicting ideals – faithful to a rich cultural heritage, yet in search of revolutionary emancipation – during the political upheaval of a post-Peron military regime. This was the childhood of Fabian Pérez.
There can be little doubt – the climactic passion and rhythm of life lived by his father, Antonio, amidst the underground world of city nights was the igniting spark in this artist’s intense imagination. There is no debate – this hedonistic backdrop, made animate through the lunfardo and the patois of clandestine Argentinian nightlife, was the catalyst for the atmospheric representations of forbidden sensuality and unnamed desires that we see today. No wonder then, that the artist himself refers to his style, his atmospheric portrayals of life after dark in Buenos Aires, as ‘emotionalism’.
AMAGUE – embellishment
And after seven years in the Mediterranean, opening up these channels of creativity, it was time to move on. Fabian travelled to Okinawa in Japan – experiencing and absorbing the delicate nuances of eastern influence into his psyche for over a year, and being heavily influenced by the energy and dramatic strokes of the Shodo painting technique – before settling back in the west, in Los Angeles. Here, in the spring of 2001, he began balancing the simple duties of life as a busboy, life model and working hand at Universal Studios during the day, with a dedication to realising his artistic flair each night. This, he considers this to be the most creative period of his life to date.
