Perry Vasquez

I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in North Carolina where drawing barns in the country was one of my first art experiences. I have operated in the San Diego/Tijuana border region since 1987. During my graduate studies in the early 1990, I began making excursions across the border to investigate the cultural milieu of Tijuana. I was drawn to its bookstores, cinemas, souvenir shops, music clubs and public spaces. The result of this experiences was Keep On Crossin’, a multi-disciplinary project that humorously combined the guilty pleasures of tourist art with a pro-immigrant point of view. In the 2000s, I began to cultivate an interest in oil painting with a series of prints and canvases that weave together diverse mythologies emblematic of the border region. Recently I have focused on the iconic image of the palm tree as a subject matter for my interest in the environmental myth of California. In 2021 I completed a pair of murals for the San Diego County Probation Office that explore the meanings behind restorative justice. My favorite color is green, my favorite number is 5 and my favorite tea is Lemon Ginger.

Education

• MFA UC San Diego (1987 — 1990)
• AB Stanford University (1977 — 1982)

Companies

• Professor of Art/ Southwestern College (2005)
• Assistant Professor National University (1999 — 2004)
• Teaching Assistant UCSD- Interactive Cognition Lab (2000 — 2001)