The Relics Series by James Perez. Coming in 2011.

White Linen Night in the Heights: Featuring the works of James Perez at Cueto James Gallery. August 6, 2011.

James Perez's Seven Deadly Sins Series will be on display at Cueto James Art Gallery, along with Jason Ransom's current exhibit, for the Beautiful is nothing but the onset of the Terrible... on August 6, 2011, for the White Linen Night in the Heights event. Ransom's work will be in the parlor of the gallery, while Perez's series will be in an inner room of the gallery. White Linen Night in the Heights is a much beloved and extremely fun all day affair in the Heights district. So grab your summer whites and get out here!

Read more about White Linen Night HERE.

Cueto James Art Gallery is located essentially right in the center of all the hub bub, and our doors will be thrown open wide for any and all patrons to wander in and see Jason's and James' amazing artwork, as well as enjoy an upbeat atmosphere, refreshments & beverages, fun music and fine wine tasting. It's going to be an absolute blast, and we hope you'll join us for this Heights area event!

Address: 1045 Studewood
Event Time: 10am-10pm
Contact Phone: 409-330-2027

Email: cuetojames.gallery@yahoo.com

Cueto James Gallery's Front Window , Featuring Perez's "Envy", Captured by Local Photographer.

Photographer Spencer Schyma takes advantage of a perfect moment. 

This is the front window of the gallery, with James Perez's "Envy" painting hanging in it.

Great photo, Spencer!

Artworks of Iconography: Understanding the Seven Deadly Sins series by James Perez.

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS SERIES

by
JAMES PEREZ

Gluttony (oil on 5’x7’ canvas) depicts a seven-armed Kali-Ma Virgin Mary eating a plate of babies with a knife and fork. This work reminds us that religion gobbles us up when we are children, and that humans are the meal ticket of the church.

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Lust (oil on 5'x7' canvas) shows an uglier view of the church, depicting reigning Pope Benedict seated at his throne and coddling an Altar Boy in his lap.  This forces the patron to confront the truth about the atrocities of clergy abuse, and the sometimes ugly nature of the sin of Lust.

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Envy (oil on 5'x7' canvas) depicts child beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey, exposed and stalked by a horde of ghouls (look for famous faces) who drool green glitter over the child's body as they stare at her.  The child pageant industry has long attracted a following of child predators, envious of youth and beauty.

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Greed (oil on 5'x5' canvas) shows an almost comical depiction of Christian Televangelist Tammy Faye Baker having a famous melt down.  Her bus-driver fingernails clutch a handful of jewels and her face is framed by $100 bills.

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Pride (oil on 5'x7' canvas) shows a portrait of our proud President martyred in a crucifixion.  Even in the clutches of his darkest enemies, he appears blindly proud before his adversaries.

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Wrath (oil 5'x7' canvas) is a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed with the face of 911 Terrorist Mohammad Atta.  The spirit of the Koran gushes from its binding and the Afghan hills glitter with gold.

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Sloth (oil on 5'x7' canvas) depicts porn star Jenna Jameson laying on her back with her legs over her head in a bed of cocaine.  This work reminds us that the now common practices of sex workers are best examples of what it means to be slothful.


Click HERE to watch a video clip of the Houston Channel 2 news segment regarding the "Pride" painting (features a brief interview with the artist himself).

Biography of artist James Perez.

"My art is designed to move you.  Whether it moves you to the right or to the left, if it moved you I did my job."

- James Perez

As a child, Houston artist James Perez was exposed to an extremist religious cult known as The Children of God (C.O.G.) where he experienced radical expression of organized Christianity in its most bohemian form.  Documented in the book Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult, C.O.G. encouraged prostitution of its female members to raise money for the cult and as a means of finding lost souls with which to share the Word of God.  Like some modern Christian cults today, C.O.G. also believed in alien foundations for humanity.  Under intense scrutiny in the 1980s for its leadership under Moses David, the group was reformed and became known as The Family, which still exists today.  Child survivors of the cult have established forums for expression and communal outcry against the psychological and sexual abuses they sustained under the watchful eye of this Christian sect, often sadly ending in murder and suicide.  Exposure to this communal religious group from an early age predisposed James to a hardened view of the dangers and psychological damage that organized religion can inflict.  James’ art is for him, personally, a way of reminding himself that the messages we receive through organized religion are the design of man, and that they are set apart from belief or disbelief in God.

James' recent work focuses on contradictions in spiritual existence, how our relationship with organized religion fits with human sexuality, social drug abuse, the evil acts of man, and our place as a life form in the universe.  Handled separately, these subjects have benign and factual qualities that we compartmentalize.  When handled together on one canvas, these subjects become increasingly uncomfortable, creating a confusing mixture of emotion more closely imitating the way we feel in the experience of human life.  His paintings ask what we can accept about how our need for an organized explanation of existence clashes with the way we experience life, and ultimately whether we are able to accept the existence of each other.  He uses surrealism and fantasy to create images that are widely interpreted, but which always are ultimately deeply personal to the patrons they speak to.