Caribian Nights

Enoc Pérez was born 1967 in Puerto Rico and now lives in New York. The most obvious feature of his painting is the actual texture of the colour–those shimmering surfaces, the tactile quality of which quite literally inviting hands-on investigation. The special secret of this sort of designed realistic painting obviously lies in the way the paint is applied. In this particular Enoc Pérez reveals himself to be a manically industrious artisan. He uses a high degree of precision to graft colour and form onto paper, whence to canvas, transferring it layer upon layer using a kind of frottage technique. Once he has finished a painting, interest in this process wanes, because as soon as you look at the finished picture, something else – let’s call it the »romantic appropriation« – starts to take hold automatically. For on the one hand Ennoc Perez prefers to paint women who, by virtue of his painting technique, not only derive something mysteriously attractive, but who, even in awkward positions, are thus completely enveloped by a mystical aura. This produces an feeling of irritation aimed directly at Desire. On the other hand Enoc Pérez enjoys painting wonderfully attractive modern hotels and pools from the 1940s to 1970s, which, surrounded by palm trees and luxurious vegetation, do little to deny their paradisial tenure. However, it’s not just the dream of Caribbean luxury being mapped out here, but rather that Desire itself leaps out quasi-somnambulistically from the images of women into a supposed Garden of Eden, instantly unifying both motifs. It is an environment many would chose for their final hours on earth. And yet one senses a slight contradiction creeping in here, though not because Enoc Pérez bases his paintings on snapshots, but rather that he chooses to work with non-regular sections and thereby manages to shift the focus on Attraction and Paradise almost imperceptibly. The degree to which this shift may be perceived is – in the manner of the trained romantic – left up to the person looking at his pictures.