VIRTUAL SENIOR SHOW: Elvert Perez
Nothing is what it seems. When I began at UC Santa Cruz, my work was meant to satisfy the requirements meant for the assignment. This ideology was unsustainable and I quickly ran out of ideas. Thankfully, I was encouraged to to stretch my ideas and break free from conventions that had been hammered on to me. With every project, I learned more about myself and what I was capable of. Before long, I wanted to make work that toyed with the idea of reality. All while remaining playful and potentially silly.
This show is a combination of the various projects I have done since arriving at the UC Santa Cruz campus. I have chosen two works from five different projects: In Transit, Untitled VIrtual Series, Summer Days, Memoirs, and Dreamland. While I love painting, I found myself gravitating more towards photography. Of course, it can always change and I’m looking forward to who I become in the future.
Title: "Glistening"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2018
Description: Taken shortly after a brief rain shower. Presented in a filmic aspect ratio to add to the dream-like feel I managed to capture. Is nature beautiful if no one is there to see it?
Title: "Accidents"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2018
Description: As a logic-oriented person, everything I do needs to go according to a plan of some kind. Perhaps fate had a different idea when it decided to blow my umbrella onto a body of water. This photograph illustrates how my wants are not as important as my needs.
Title: "Untitled Tree"
Medium: Screenshot Photography
Year: 2019
Description: I captured this screenshot from a game called The Crew. I was drawn to the seemingly random placement of a tree in the countryside of a virtual world.
Title: "Rental Car Place"
Medium: Screenshot Photography
Year: 2019
Description: One of my favorite things about the rain is the reflection of light from wet surfaces. Standing still can seem counterintuitive in a world that is constantly moving. The Crew is a racing game where the scenery adds believability to the world. Stopping the action and taking a screenshot of the scenery is not all that different from doing so in the real world.
Title: "Guiding Light"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2019
Description: The thing I love more than black and white photography is science fiction. I wanted to simulate the feeling of nearing ones journey, or ones ascension to whatever comes next
Title: "Homeward Bound"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2019
Description: There is something about long exposures and a moving subject. The fog added some much needed eeriness to a seemingly tranquil street. The protagonist is almost home, but perhaps there is something behind him.
Title: "The Last Time I Was Human"
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Year: 2020
Description: This abstract painting is meant to show the different emotions I felt when having a partner. The loving glances and fruitful conversations forever locked in one moment; the descriptions are foreign to others even though they have felt the same. I use colors as a way to convey a positive interpretation to a bittersweet moment.
Title: "The End."
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Year: 2020
Description: Compared to the other pieces in the abstract series, this one forgoes the vibrant colors in favor of muted washes and thin strokes. The lines represent the journey one takes in life: sometimes you retrace your steps and other times the path seems unclear. Heartbreak, isolation, and frustration, brought in part by the beginning of quarantine, are represented by the limited use of color. The black square represents the end of the journey.
Title: "Blue Skies Above"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2020
Description: I wanted to convey daydreaming on a field while looking at the sky above. The clouds part and reveal a blue sky that signals the coming of brighter days.
Title: "Lost In Thought"
Medium: Photography
Year: 2020
Description: I wanted to capture the imagery of being within a lucid dream. Images float by and lead me to another dream or towards another state of relaxation.