Biography
When we look closely at the paintings of Fabian Perez we can see some fascinating visual signposts that point us in the direction of his influences. The first of these is the night time setting for many of his most powerful images. This distinctive trait leads us directly to the door of his father, Antonio, who Fabian has always cited as the inspiration for his work. Antonio owned a number of bordelloes as well as other clubs and was frequently chased and closed down by the police. Thus was born the young Fabian’s fascination with the underground world of night in the city. The second visual signpost comes from the women who appear in Fabian’s paintings. The intimacy and respect with which these “women of the night” are portrayed is due in no small part to his upbringing, where he was befriended and often cared for by girls that other schoolboys were being warned against. The warmth and humanity of these women is as central to his images as their beauty and seductiveness. Like Toulouse Lautrec, whose vibrant but humorous portrayals of the Moulin Rouge cancan dancers offered us a uniquely intimate view of these extraordinary women, it is Fabian’s closeness to the reality of his subjects that sets him apart from other artists who might paint such figures from a greater distance.