Luis F's profile

Luis F. Pérez was born in Colombia and raised in Bogota and New York, where he graduated from the School of Visual Arts. After working in the fashion industry and community arts programming, he began in 2015 to present his work in outdoor exhibitions. He has won numerous awards, and his work has appeared in various watercolor and drawing publications (Splash 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24; The Best of Drawing; Stroke of Genius; Southwest Art Magazine, Artists Magazine: ‘Artist to watch’ 2023).
Luis’s work has evolved from simple graphite illustrations of animals to images on a range of topics and in a variety of mediums and sizes. The common thread in his work is to reinterpret captured light. He generally works from photographs and then reinterprets the photographed subject in a way meant to invite the viewer to focus on light as well as on a subject, prompting the viewer to their own reinterpretation.
His latest watercolors are primarily still life or landscape, generally in large format. The still life paintings of food are a series entitled “Privileged food.” The paintings, while realistic, are contemporary in form, design, and composition. The semi-circular composition offers the opportunity to explore ways that negative space can be complementary or oppositional to the subject, using tonal values, hues, or subtle textural variations.
Process:
Luis draws black and white thumbnails of ideas he may want to pursue. He then photographs his subjects, mostly under natural light, with a 35mm digital camera or an iPhone. He manipulates and composes the image using Photoshop. The final image is drawn onto 300 lb. or heavier Arches or Fabriano watercolor paper. On larger pieces he uses masking fluid to prevent the white of the paper from being painted. These masked areas usually are the highlights of the subject. He starts the paintings with light tones and colors and then proceeds to dark ones, moving left to right, when possible. He uses a variety of techniques and brushes to achieve the effect(s) required. The larger pieces may take up to seven weeks to finish.

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