Otis College Alum Antonio Perez Channeled His Challenges Into His Art

After transferring to Otis as a junior, Perez’s support among his instructors led to a solo show, a job at Doug Aitken’s studio, and a new approach to his art.

Antonio Perez (’24 BFA Fine Arts, Painting) had a full-circle moment early in his teaching and art career. An elementary school teacher noticed his love of drawing and encouraged him. That initial encounter sparked Perez’s belief in his art-making. He would later have a similar influence as an art teacher for the city of Bell Gardens, where he taught kindergarteners to high schoolers. 

As an art teacher, Perez purposely chose lessons and art references he would’ve loved to have seen as a child, for example, basing exercises on the work of Latinx artists like Frank Romero (’58 Fine Arts). “It was really cool to show [my students] themselves through art,” he says, “to try and create a curriculum that showed people who looked like them.” 

Throughout his creative journey, Perez has had to model a tenacity and self-belief as he overcame several challenges. When his elementary school teacher encouraged him to take art classes to expand beyond the Marvel comics and science books that formed his creative purview at the time, extracurriculars like art were beyond reach as his parents worked full-time, which made any drive outside of his Bell Gardens hometown difficult. 

After high school, Perez took community college and night classes to hone his creative skills. Once he exhausted the art curriculums at both Rio Hondo and Cerritos community colleges, a professor encouraged him to consider his next step. Getting an art degree felt like a necessary investment for his future as a professional artist, but a faraway goal due to prohibitive tuition costs. 

He applied and got accepted to Otis College, but then his dad was diagnosed with cancer right when he had to decide whether to attend. Perez consulted with his family, and, after his father’s health stabilized, he transferred to Otis College as a junior. 

He majored in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting, and found the space to experiment with multiple mediums at once, creating sculptural works and also making monotypes. “One of the things that Otis does well is expose you to so many things,” Perez says. “You have everything at your disposal. They do a really good job at building the whole artist.”

Perez struggled with juggling classes with his elementary school teaching job. Later that first year, his brother passed away—a difficult chapter that became part of his art-making. 

“It turned into a way for me to process everything,” he says. “It was really helpful, going through everything that was happening and putting it into my artwork.” 

A Roadblock Becomes an Opportunity 

Another challenge turned into an opportunity. Perez left his teaching job when he needed a specific certification to continue. With this extra time he took advantage of the Art and Design Education Minor at Otis, which gives students a foundation for future roles in teaching, arts education, youth programs, and other community-oriented fields, including a pathway to a California teaching credential. 

As part of a Teaching for Learning course taught by Patricia Kovic, the Art and Design Education Minor Area Head, Perez was able to intern with the non-profit organization Pulse Arts, which expands arts education access for underserved youth across California. This experience enabled Perez “to find new ways to connect with students where they were,” he says. 

Meanwhile, Otis instructor Jennifer Moon introduced Perez to two major texts that have influenced his art and process: Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto and Domesticana: The Sensibility of Chicana Rasquache by Amalia Mesa-Bains. After learning about rasquachismo—an approach to art-making rooted in Mexican-American culture that emphasizes using what you have—Perez says that his works “started to make themselves, in a sense.”

During Perez’s senior year, his dad’s health deteriorated and he passed away. In the studio, Perez once again found space to settle his thoughts, do new research, and make more art. He started incorporating objects from his family history into his work, alongside motifs drawn from pre-Columbian art. 

“I started taking parts off of [my dad’s] truck and had no idea what I would do with them,” he says. “I took the license plate, the sun visor, and the emblems. I wasn’t thinking, I just knew I wanted to keep parts of [his car] for me. And when I read about rasquachismo I was able to articulate what I wanted to do. These parts were these leftovers of something that was meaningful.”

An Artist in His Own Right 

Towards the end of his studies, Chair of Fine Arts Meg Cranston got Perez an interview to work with artist Doug Aitken. “The day after graduation, I started working for his workshop,” Perez says. “I’ve been here for two years now, and it’s been really cool to continue to learn and to see how an artist of that stature works and the whole big production machine [behind it]. It gives me opportunities to learn and find other ways of making.” 

It wasn’t long before Perez had his own opportunity to shine. Otis instructor Soo Kim sent Perez information on an open call for submissions at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a non-profit network of independently programmed, artist-run exhibition spaces with locations in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Greenville, SC. More than 400 artists applied for a solo show open call and Perez, much to his surprise, was one of two artists selected. 

Carnal opened on Dia de Muertos on November 2, 2024, an especially poignant date for Perez, who was continuing to mourn his brother and father. His interdisciplinary approach shone through in the sculptural pieces on display, which nodded to Chicanx and Latinx culture while also being deeply personal. Being in the gallery space with loved ones felt especially significant.

“The best part was to see my family there,” he says. “And to share that day with all of my family—and my brother and my dad being there, too.” 

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