GAVIN PERRY
Born in 1971 Philadelphia, PA
Lives and works in Miami, FL

Customization is a subversive act that radically opposes the efforts of every dominant civilization to homogenize its culture. In our society, this desire to express one's own identity is reflected in many people's desire to modify mass-produced objects in radical and often violent ways.
A whole host of things, from cars to furniture and even clothing, can and have been customized from their original form.
In all cases, mass-produced objects have been modified by their owners to meet aesthetic, utilitarian or other requirements.
My interest in this phenomenon lies in the relationship between the "customizer" and the customized object, and more specifically in one person's obsession with the act of modification.
I believe these obsessive manipulations imbue the object with a kind of magic.
I produce paintings and sculptures using raw materials and industrial techniques.
I work with the same methodical approach used by car customizers, relentlessly striving for a smooth surface to create one-piece pieces.
By imposing these rules on myself, I retain a certain loyalty to the working-class world in which I grew up, while questioning notions of judgment, class and taste.

We Paint!, Prix Jean-François Prat,
Beaux Arts de Paris,
24 mars - 24 avril 2022