Carlos Charlie Perez:
”It's fun to pretend to be other people”

April 26 - June 1, 2025

Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York is thrilled to present a solo exhibition by Carlos Charlie Perez titled “It's fun to pretend to be other people” curated by Dominic Terlizzi. Perez appropriates this Bruce Willis quote to aptly describe what he refers to as “costume paintings.”

Sometimes people wish they were somebody else, even if temporarily. Using the semiotics of film to construct multi-framed paintings, Carlos Perez’s work often employs lighting and narrative constructions derived from the moving image. Perez is particularly interested in the film technique where an actor breaks the fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience. Says Perez, “I strive for a similar effect whereby the conversation extends beyond the confines of the canvas and allows for the interactive exploration of non-traditional themes between the work and the viewer.”

After years of experience behind the lens directing music videos and photographing lifestyle fashion, Perez mines this history to create a multiplicity of personas in his work. Each painting is actively performing and playing dress-up over the established visual frame in a suggestion of different personalities and familiar characters. His use of overlaying typography, painted elements, trompe l’oeil, and collage onto discarded and found clothing add to the variations of costume, and touches on themes such as Americana, race, and sports.

Perez’s installation organizes the paintings into a grid, inviting viewers to find new connections between them. Comparing the various costumes allows us to project a new conversation and story line into each, imagining different modes of existing, and potential role-playing. The paintings offer humor and
generalizations of identity in wardrobe choices, while simultaneously imparting lingering questions of culture, class, taste, temperament, and politics.

Carlos Charlie Perez (b.1982 Fort Lauderdale, Florida) currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A first generation Cuban American, Perez moved to New York City after high school to attend Cooper Union, graduating with his BFA in 2004. Perez has exhibited in shows at the Studio Museum of Harlem,
NY; Guild And Greyshkul, NY; and Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY. In 2022 he completed a residency at the Atlantic Center For The Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. This is Perez’s first solo presentation of his paintings in New York City.

- For Mikel -

Performance by Brock Enright:
May 10th, 6 pm

Artist Brock Enright will present a performance piece that engages with Perez’s work on view. Enright’s performances often incorporate face painting, music, and costume.

Brock Enright (b. 1976 Norfolk, Virginia) received his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1998 and his MFA in 2001 from Columbia University. Enright's work has been exhibited at venues including MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY; Mitchell-Ines & Nash, New York, NY; and Massachusetts Museum of
Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA.

Artist talk with Marcus Civin:
May 31st, 4 pm

On the closing day of Perez’s solo show TSA will hold an artist talk. Carlos will be in conversation With Marcus Civin at the gallery.

Marcus Civin is a writer and Assistant Dean in the School of Art at Pratt Institute. He has been living and working in Brooklyn since 2021. His writing about art has appeared recently in ArtReview, BOMB, Boston Art Review, Dear Dave, Camera Austria, IMPULSE, Millenium Film Journal, and Sculpture, among other
publications. He has interviewed artists including Math Bass, Phaan Howng, Raven Halfmoon, Na Kim, Cato Ouyang, Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith, Jessica Rankin, and Sun You. He also writes poems and short stories. He has made his 4-word ONLY POEMS into paintings. Some of his other poems have been about
taxis. Lately, his character-driven short stories have been set in wartime. He studied art, performance, and poetry, started a performance art festival in Los Angeles many years ago, and with Dominic Terlizzi and Christine Stiver once staged a protest gym in Baltimore.