Ceramicist Gustavo Pérez is known for his smooth and elegant vessels, abstract and symmetrical in style, that trade colorful Mexican earthenware for sand-colored stoneware to achieve accurate incised lines and markings. After the clay is thrown and fired at high temperatures, Perez either retains the classic vessel shape or carves it into various segments, emphasizing line and geometric detail, sometimes coating the earth-toned ceramic with a matte black glaze. His creations blend modernist sculpture with vases and vessels of ancient cultures. He utilizes innovative surface designs and lyricism of form, combining art and arithmetic into his own visual language.
After graduating from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, with a degree in engineering, mathematics, and philosophy, Pérez attended the School of Design and Craftsmanship, Mexico City. In 1980, he received a two-year grant to attend the St. Joost School of Fine Arts and Design in Breda, the Netherlands, and became a guest artist in the Sint Paulus Abdij workshop in Oosterhout. He was a resident artist at the Shigaraki Institute of Ceramic Studies, Japan; the International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary; and Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, France. His works have been exhibited at the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City; the Xalapa Museum of Anthropology, Mexico; and the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco. Public collections include the Cultural Center of Contemporary Art, Mexico City; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany. Pérez currently resides at his studio near Xalpa, Veracruz.
