Professor's 'Animalario' exhibition to focus on humanity's alter egos

SUNY Oswego professor of art Juan Perdiguero will present his recent mixed-media work in "Animalario," the opening exhibition of Tyler Art Gallery's 2018-19 season starting Aug. 31 in Tyler Hall on the college's main campus.

A free, public reception for the artist will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14. The exhibition will run through Oct. 7. 

"I use a visual language that is concise and direct, sort of 'right in your face' easy to understand, but not necessarily easy to digest, and this tends to generate a reaction in the viewer," Perdiguero said in a question-and-answer piece published as a brochure for his post-sabbatical exhibition.

Perdiguero says he expresses his ideas metaphorically, through images of animals, though he has recently returned to human figures, as well.

Animals "function as alter egos, at times self-portraits, or portraits of diverse human emotions and states of mind that I see within the people I interact with on a daily basis as I travel around the world," he said. "I do not portray animals, I use animal portraiture to reflect on people's existential condition."

Formally trained in the classical Spanish tradition, Perdiguero works in mixed media, sometimes experimentally and many times using etching ink, asphaltum and linseed oil on photographic emulsion.

"I always had a love for drawing, a strong interest in painting and I felt very intrigued by photography (traditional black and white analogue photography)," he said. "Being a process-oriented image maker, what I loved about photography was the silver gelatin emulsion surface and the magic transformation of light and shadow into form."

Perdiguero joined SUNY Oswego’s art faculty in 2002. His work has appeared at galleries in Madrid, Zaragoza and Cordoba in Spain, as well as in Richmond, the Rochester Contemporary Art Center and other galleries in the United States and Europe. 

Tyler Art Gallery will open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays during the academic year. It will close on Mondays and college holidays. Call 315-312-2112 for more information.