Xavier Pérez Aguilar became well known in Ajijic in the 1980s and 1990s for his fine watercolor landscapes and portraits. Pérez was a very talented and versatile artist who was also known for his fine oil paintings, sculptures and woodworking.
According to a “Profile of the Artist” in El Ojo del Lago, Javier Pérez Aguilar (his birth name) was born in Ocotlán (near the eastern end of Lake Chapala) on 26 October 1942, but was raised and educated in Tijuana and Southern California. After attending a seminary, he worked in industrial design before studying a liberal arts program at Los Angeles City College. He then attended the Art Center College of Design, and studied painting under Leon Franks, Sergei Bongart and Constance Marlow.
With Marlow, he started the Valley Branch of the Art League of Los Angeles in 1968, under whose auspices he taught and gave painting demonstrations for 15 years. In August 1968 he exhibited “Pico Adobe” in an invitational group show at the San Fernando Mission in Los Angeles. Both Sergei Bongart and Constance Marlow also had works in that show.
At the Art League, Pérez gave life and drawing classes. Elsewhere, he gave a demonstration of palette knife techniques at an art society meeting in Los Angeles, in September 1968, and conducted flower painting classes in Chino. In January 1975, Pérez, billed as a “renowned artist and sculptor,” gave a demonstration in sculpting at the San Fernando Valley Art Club. By that time, Pérez had founded the Xavier Pérez Studio in Hollywood.
According to the biographical profile in El Ojo, “Xavier’s works brought on a degree of notoriety and an accumulation of awards which ultimately led to personality conflicts within the League. He stopped showing his paintings in public.”
After this Pérez moved back into the design business and combined the restoration of antiques with designing and making reproduction furniture.
Pérez visited Lake Chapala in 1979 and returned to live at Lake Chapala in 1984, establishing his home in Ajijic, close to family members in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos. He opened the Galeria P. Bonnard, at Calle 16 de Septiembre #7 in Ajijic, the building where Enrique and Belva Velázquez have their joint studio today.
Xavier Pérez was one of the large group of “Pintores de la Ribera” who held a group exhibit in May 1985 at the Club Campestre La Hacienda (km 30, Guadalajara-Chapala highway). Other artists represented in that show included Daphne Aluta, Eugenia Bolduc, Jean Caragonne, Donald Demerest, Laura Goeglein, Hubert Harmon, B. R. Kline, Jo Kreig, Carla W. Manger, Emily Meeker, Sydney Moehlman, Tiu Pessa, De Nyse Turner Pinkerton and Eleanor Smart.
In 1986, Pérez was elected the first president of the Ajijic Society of the Arts (ASA). He saw his mission as forging greater unity among all the local artists. In addition, he began a project to restore and maintain the collection of archaeological finds started by the late Dr. Betty Bell. Pérez had his eccentricities; he loved reading the Tarot and told his niece that he talked to the ghosts in his house, and that Angels spoke to him in his dreams. In Ajijic he gave private art classes, and was also a co-founder (with Tod Jonson, Ektor Carranza, Florence Pritikin and Pat Tanaka) in 1986 of the Culinary Arts Society of Ajijic (CASA).
This highly intelligent and multi-talented artist died in hospital in Guadalajara in February 1999.
Several chapters of Foreign Footprints in Ajijic: Decades of Change in a Mexican Village offer more details about the history of the artistic community in Ajijic.
Acknowledgments
- My sincere thanks to Ricardo Santana for first bringing this artist to my attention; to Richard Tingen and Judy Eager for sharing their memories of the artist; and to Stephanie Shelton (see comments) for supplying many photos and details of her uncle’s life and work.
Sources
- El Ojo del Lago, September 1986
- Valley News (Van Nuys, California): 1 February 1968, 74; 27 Aug 1968, 14; 24 Sep 1968, 24; 14 June 1973, 77; 14 January 1975, 26.
Comments, corrections or additional material are welcomed, whether via comments feature or email.
Tony Burton’s books include “Lake Chapala: A Postcard History” (2022), “Foreign Footprints in Ajijic” (2022), “If Walls Could Talk: Chapala’s historic buildings and their former occupants” (2020), (available in translation as “Si Las Paredes Hablaran”), “Mexican Kaleidoscope” (2016), and “Lake Chapala Through the Ages” (2008).
Thank you for all information that you send. Really enjoy reading your articles.
Thanks, Dinah; always good to know that they are being read and enjoyed!
I was a close friend of Xavier Perez for several years and was one of the art teachers when Hal Reed started the the Art League with Connie Marlow, Xavier, and Hal as the major teachers. We were all oil painters. I visited Xavier when he moved to his mother’s home in Ixtlahuacan and had an exhibit of his beautiful oil paintings. I never knew him to be a water colorist during the time I knew him. His oil paintings were spectacular.
Pat, Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’ll email you because I would very much like to learn more about Xavier’s life and work, especially if it is possible to establish a better time line for his career. Regards, Tony.
i aquired a large painting of 6 corners in west ajijic by Xavier Perez painted in 1986. i would like to learn more about the artist. who would you recomend i contact. thank you.
Hi Gary, You’ve reached the right person. What is known about this artist is included in the profile. All my efforts to find out more have so far drawn a blank. If I do ever learn more about Xavier it will be included into this profile. I would be very interested in seeing a photo of your painting if that’s possible? Please use this email link. Regards, TB.
Hi Gary, I am the niece of Javier Perez Aguilar, we were very close. What information would you like?
Xavier Perez (Javier Perez) was my uncle, he died in Feb of 1999 while living in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, Jal. He was not just a watercolorist. My Uncle worked in many mediums, in fact when he passed he mainly painted oil paintings. He was also a sculptor I even helped him make 100 chairs once for a restaurant in Guadalajara. He was brilliant in so many ways, I believe he was also a part of Mensa.
I have many of his oil paintings if you would ever like to add those to this page.
Thank you, Stephanie, for getting in touch. I’m responding via email, TB.