Romualdo “Rommel” Perez studied Fine Arts Major in Advertising Arts at the University of Sto. Tomas. He went to the Ateneo de Naga high school. He currently works as a freelance visual and graphic artist, but most of the time dabbles with his paintings that exude the nuances of surrealism and social realism. His art is influenced by renowned artists like Salvador Dali, H.R. Giger, and draws inspiration from Filipino social realists Elmer Borlongan, Antipas Delotavo and Toti Cerda.
Perez has joined various competitions, among these were the Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual Award where he was a semi-finalist in 1992 and 1999 in the watercolor category. He was also a finalist in the prestigious 30th Kulay Sa Tubig watercolor competition in 2014. He was with a two-man show at the Altromondo Artspace; a four-man art exhibit at the Art Asia Gallery in 2018; again, competed in the 31st and 32nd Kulay sa Tubig watercolor invitational competition in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
He joined various international competitions and was selected at the Bienniales of the 4th International Watercolor Society Serbia in 2015; in the 1st International Watercolor Society Canada in 2016; in the 2nd International Watercolor Society Pakistan in 2017. He emerged in the Top 15 in the BINDAAS Artist Group India Online Competition in 2017. He competed in the Abu Rawash Prize 2nd International Watercolor Contest in 2018 and the 31st Kulay Sa Tubig watercolor invitational competition 2019. He was invited to the 2020 Pameran Cat Air Asia Tenggara (PACA), the Southeast Asia Watercolor Exhibition in Malaysia.
About Rommel Perez’s “Tindero” series, art critic Dennis B. Gonzaga recently wrote, “Perez highlights the peripheries of our urban sensibilities. His series discards the monoliths and monuments that constantly loom over our perceptions and impressions. Instead, he pays tribute to the margins, to the mundane. Here lies the primary strength and quality of his “Tindero” series. His subtle palette and brushstrokes are appropriate in that they do not overpower the deeper elements of his discourse. Perez exercises a deft restraint in choosing which visual elements to emphasize and which ones are to be relegated into compositional ambience.”
Dennis B. Gonzaga further elaborated, “A scrutiny of his preferred subjects also reveals an important point: Perez depicts ambulant vendors rather than stall-based traders. He renders an elderly taho vendor in a brief respite, sorbeteros whose ubiquitous presences are defined by the distinct shape of their carts, a cigarette vendor cradling his wooden box as if it were an infant, an old woman selling scapulars and rosary beads amidst a crowd of apathetic church-goers, and other similar images of informal merchants surviving along the cracks of the urban terrain. In a sense, Perez expresses movement and urgency. He is both sympathetic and blunt in his appropriation of his source material.”
Based in Naga City, Perez lives a quiet life surrounded by his canvasses. He is an active member of the Salingoy Art Group of Naga City.
Recent works by Rommel Perez
