Meet Edgar Perez Peña | Visual Artist & Professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Edgar Perez Peña and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Edgar, why did you pursue a creative career?
Art has always played an important part of my entire youth and adult life and I’m glad as well grateful that the idea of stopping never came to mind. Growing up in the neighboring cities of Los Angeles such as Maywood, Huntington Park and Boyle Heights (by Estrada Courts) served as my informal introduction to art, specifically murals before having access to museums and galleries. Many of them were located in parks, my school, side walls of liquor stores and the alleys. Every time I would walk past a mural or drive by one my eyes would be locked. Such as the “We Are Not a Minority”, mural created by Mario Torero, Rocky, El Leon and Zade as well the Chicano Moratorium mural created by ASCO. My community that I was part of definitely served as my inspiration. Knowing the history of the area and surrounding areas that I lived was important, questioning systems of oppression (physically and conceptually) as well learning to navigate physical and psychological space as a queer body.
Creating and being artistic felt like a natural thing to do for me. In my senior year of high school (with no income or a car) I managed to earn a couple of internships in the Pomona Arts Colony such as SPACE Gallery, The DA Center for the Arts, The American Museum of Ceramic Art as well the Museum of Donuts in Ontario, CA. I was given the opportunity to learn from these opportunities such as teaching, curating, networking, installing, archiving, prepping for shows and how to navigate the art community. Most importantly building long term friendships of 10+ years. I wanted to learn it all and prepare myself for the future. A future that I didn’t know where it would take me, but whatever I was doing I knew it would benefit me. Such as proposing and creating the first Mural and Public Works Archive for the city of San Bernardino, earning my MFA, employed at a community college right after graduating, part of art publications, being part of group shows, able to have solo shows and doing community based artworks.
I learned so much from pursuing a career in the arts and it’s definitely not what people have said in the past. Such as it’s going to be rough making a living as an artist and who’s going to buy your work. I never paid attention to these things. I love painting, creating assemblages, collaborating with other creatives as well being able to be a resource for the folks that are barely starting out. Looking back at my first pieces compared to now, time has definitely passed by so fast, but it’s been so long. I can definitely see the difference from my starting out work to my current work. For sure, trust the process and be patient. I didn’t choose to be an artist, I just embraced it to the point where I confidently called myself one, I also DJ. Art is therapeutic and I definitely don’t see myself ever stopping. Making art makes me happy. When I don’t make art I feel weird.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think of my work as unfinished fragments of assemblages, drawings, paintings, and photographs in which are used to question the systemic social construct and how we navigate the world (physically and psychologically). My arrangements are used as metaphors in conjunction with my body. My work functions as an invitation of desire, seduction, and mystery, introducing topics on identity, gender performance, sexuality as well the interaction between physical and psychological space. I use my body and observations through my experiences as a Queer and Chicanx artist to push topics about systems, borders as well how we perform in spaces.
I keep a sketchbook around me most of the time or I write things down on paper and paste it in my sketchbook. What I am excited about is how my newer ideas are developing and being translated into images, which will either become paintings, drawings or have some part of an assemblage. On rare occasions performance. I try to keep an open mind on materials. I love playing with the combination of soft and hard materials as well as juxtaposition. It reminds me of seeing the roots of trees breaking the pavement and plants growing right out from the cracks of them or even the several layers of graffiti peeling off a wall.
I do take my time to work on my pieces as I do glaze a lot. Each layer of paint is well thought about before application because it will affect how it’s reflecting underneath each layer and I like each layer to breathe. It adds more dimension and interest to the piece. But most of the time I just layer it down and see what happens. If I don’t like it I simply whip it off. No big deal.
However, I am proud that I was able to be published in publications, showing in LA and Northern California, at one time being part of the Los Angeles Artist Association. I am excited to work larger than the 3ft x 4ft canvas or even 5ft x 6ft canvases. I feel like it’s my time to push my work forward and see where it takes me all while juggling being an art educator at Mount San Jacinto College and potential other schools.
To get where I am now professional wasn’t easy. It definitely took a long time but I was also being consistent. It does become trickier as you get older because there are other responsibilities but setting a little bit of time to work makes a big difference compared to not putting some time off to the side. Also, not being scared to try new things and having an open mind, even if you are slightly steering off from your goal. Eventually you will work your way back. Being nice to yourself also helps. Hard work most definitely and being open to learning. I am still learning.
What I want to let the world know is that my work comes from an authentic and personal place. I observe a lot, question and analyze. Also I am making it my goal to build my work so I am able to show in LA or even have a space near LA’s Arts District. We will see.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend and I were to plan a week long trip in the city of LA some of the places that we would visit include: ArtShare, The Neon Museum, Little Tokyo, Grand Central Market, Melody Lounge, Little Joy, Footsies, The Last Bookstore, the farmers market, Echo Park Lake, Urth Cafe, Hauser and Wirth, Charlie James Gallery as well any hidden places that are known by the locals

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Many of my smaller successes and bigger successes in my artists/creative career may have led me into another path if it were not for the people that came into my path in pushing me, mentoring me, giving me solid advice and giving me a chance.
I would like to give a huge thank you to my alma mater CSU San Bernardino Art Department faculty and staff. Such as Professor Robin Adsit ( for pushing me into developing technique, the importance of experimenting with material and pushing boundaries in content as well materiality), Professor Dr. Jane Chin Davidson ( for showing me the process of research in translating my ideas into words and being able to speak about my work in a deeper level), Christina Franco long ( for accepting me to be part of her group of OG interns for SPACE Gallery when I was a senior in high school into my 3rd year of college as well teaching me the backgrounds on how a gallery is ran, curating and networking). To name a few: The DA Center for the Arts, The Garcia Center for the Arts, Giorgiko and more, I would like to thank you all for the encouragement, opportunities and words of wisdom.

Website: https://edgarperezpart.wixsite.com/my-site

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_by_edgarperez/?hl=en

Other: https://www.blocksofcare.org/san-bernardino-mural-archive
edgarperezp.art@gmail.com

Image Credits
Fabian Leon Torres
Pedro Aceves