ONE can feel the passion and sultry heat of Buenos Aires tango clubs radiating from Fabian Perez’s work.

It’s an elegant world of seductive women in black dresses, slender men in well tailored suits and exotic nightclubs. They are snapshots of sexually-charged, probably illicit, romantic encounters in the warm Argentinian night. You can almost hear the strains of an accordion summoning our subjects onto the floor.

It is a world Argentinian artist Perez knows intimately, drawing on first hand experience for the series of paintings and sculpture he calls Intimos Momentos.

Describing the collection, he says: “A quiet conversation, a pause for reflection, a passionate embrace on the dance floor…these are the intimate moments that inspire my work, that offer a fleeting glimpse of another life.”

That ‘other life’ he refers to has been well-documented over the years. Those hours spent in the underground bars and nightclubs of Buenos Aires have had an immense impact on his oeuvre.

His work represents experiences and memories from his youth, portraying an interesting cast of characters ranging from beautiful women to an enigmatic man in a dark suit based on his own father, who ran nightclubs, tango clubs and bordellos.

Oxford Mail:

His work is now on show in Oxford at Whitewall Galleries, in High Street – and he stopped off on Saturday to meet gallery staff and collectors.

Perez, who now lives in Los Angeles, has won countless prestigious awards for his work and was one of the official artists to the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He has painted many of the world’s most famous faces including footballer Lionel Messi, Pope Francis, Rihanna, Sugar Ray Leonard and, more down to earth, Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop.

Oxford Mail:

One of the world’s most collected artists, in the past two years he has received five major awards. In 2017 he received the International Dante Alighieri art critics’ award, the International Francisco Goya curators’ award and the Art Tour International Magazine Master of Contemporary Art Award.

Helen Swaby, is CEO of gallery owners Clarendon and Whitewall.

She said: “This spellbinding new collection of limited editions from Fabian is characterised by a passionate, narrative style and an intoxicating atmosphere. The tempo and cadence of the human figure is brought to life as his figures dance an intimate tango, while in the lone studies, there is always a beautifully conveyed sense of latent energy. We were hugely excited to welcome Fabian back here to the UK to showcase his fabulous portraits and sculptures.”

Fabian Perez is at Whitewall Galleries Oxford, 125 High Street, Oxford. 01865 201778. oxford@whitewallgalleries.com