His works are characterized by a certain syncretism, both in the method and materials used. With his work, Javier Pérez reveals his inquiries and reflections on humanity, using a language full of powerful metaphor and intriguing symbolism. The artist brings together or otherwise depicts materials that are often oxymoronic, such as horsehair and polyester, silkworm cocoons and ceramics or viscera and flowers, thereby bringing out the weak boundary between seemingly opposed concepts such as “spirit and flesh, purity and impurity, beauty and horror, attraction and repulsion”, in the artist’s words. Building upon this dialectic vernacular, Javier Pérez has developed a multifaceted art practice in the fields of sculpture, photography, drawing, video and performance, which are used independently as well as together to create installations where interaction and exploration are essential. The impermanence and cyclical nature of life, along with the red color, are some of the artist’s recurring themes.

Pérez has received several accolades. Among these are the award Premio Ciutat de Palma Antoni Gelabert d’Arts Visuals in 2008, El Ojo Crítico award in 1998 and the Gure Artea award from the Basque Government in 1998. His numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and art centers include those at Transpalette Centre d’Art Contemporain (Bourges, France), Art Bärtschi & Cie, now Wilde (Geneva and Basel, Switzerland), Museu de Montserrat (Barcelona, Spain), Karl-Böhn Saal (Salzburg Festival, Austria), Nasher Museum of Art (Durham, USA), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (France), Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain), Carré d’Art (Nîmes, France) and at the Spanish Pavilion, 49th Venice Biennale (Italy). Numerous group shows have featured Javier Pérez’s works including recent ones at Albertina Museum (Vienna, Austria), San Telmo Museoa (Donostia, Spain), Wilhelm-Hack-Museum (Ludwigshafen, Germany), Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao (Spain), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France), Dordrechts Museum (Dordrechts, Netherlands), Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg (Denmark), Art Bärtschi & Cie, now Wilde (Geneva and Basel, Switzerland) and Glasstress at Venice Biennale (Italy). The following public and private collections include Javier Pérez’s works: Museo-Guggenheim Bilbao (Spain), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), Corning Museum of Glass (New York, USA), Museo Nacional Reina Sofia (Madrid, Spain), Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (Puteaux, France), Fondation Guerlain (Les Mesnuls, France), Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (Strasbourg, France), Toyama Glass Art Museum (Japan), Würth Museum (Germany), MOCAK (Krakow, Poland) and Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp (Belgium).