Dominican painter German Pérez is considered one of the leading exponents of the island’s 1980s artistic scene, leading him represent the country at European biennials held in France, Norway, Spain and Hungary. A graduate in architecture, he experimented with a wide range of visual media like photography, drawing, sculpture and graphic art, and these techniques have featured in several phases of his artistic work.
In 1983 he moved to New York City, where he became involved in the Pop Art movement, exhibiting his work in Soho alongside artists like Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat. As a result, one year later he represented the Latino community with a solo exhibition in the lobby of the World Trade Center in New York, in a celebration of diversity.
In the course of his career, German Pérez has held a total of 28 solo exhibitions in several cities and countries, including New York and Los Angeles, Brazil, Panama and Belgium. His pictorial body of work can be found in public and private collections, including those of international ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, Punta Cana founder, the late Theodore Kheel, world famous Parisian chef Alain Ducasse, and other prominent figures.
His work has also been acquired by the multinational telecommunications company AT&T/USA, by the Dominican Republic Museum of Modern Art, the Budapest Museum of Modern Art, the Norwegian Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Ibiza, Spain, Gulf and Western, New York; Nely Galan, Galan Entertainment, Los Angeles, and by Anthony Ball, President of Fox Sports, in Australia.
In addition, writers of the caliber of Julia Alvarez, Kathy Engel and Sergio Troncoso have chosen his work to illustrate the covers of their novels and poetry collections published in the US.
His paintings reflect his country’s search for an identity, leading him to research and study the roots that make up part of his cultural heritage, especially the black African influence and his island’s native Taino roots, which has had a permanent influence on his artistic work.
As part of his quest he has also experimented with other areas of art like video and television production. In 1985 he directed an acclaimed television program Los dirigentes (The Leaders) in his native Dominican Republic, presented by the late political leader José Francisco Peña Gómez and produced by his country’s former vice president Milagros Ortiz Bosch. This took him, in his role as director, to several European and Latin American cities to direct interviews with personalities like Willy Brandt, Felipe González, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro and Coretta Scott King. One year later, in 1986, he directed a documentary about the life of a historical figure, Dominican Máximo Gómez, the hero of Cuban independence, together with musician Juan Luis Guerra and singer Maridalia Hernández. This project ended up being shown at the International Cinema Festival in Cuba. After the screening, the International Cinema School offered him the opportunity of attending post-training courses in cinematographic screenwriting, with leading actor and screenwriter Jean Claude Carriere and film editing with American David Leiner
German Pérez has always been involved in music in some shape or form. He contributed the production of several of Juan Luis Guerra’s recordings, including Ojala que llueva café (Let it Rain Coffee) for which he made a illustration for the album and helped translate the album track Naboria Daca from Spanish to Taino. He has also performed in public in a vocal duet with famous guitarist Juan Francisco Ordoñez, and in 2000 he collaborated professionally with Dominican folklorist Boni Raposo in the production of the recording Iluminando el tesoro escondido (Illuminating the Hidden Treasure), a musical project that led to him being listed in the Latin Grammys Academy, of which he is now a member. In 2012 was named the official artist for the Grammy XIII, his design was used for program, posters, invitation, etc.
