by Marvin Ramírez
Carlos Pérez MacíaThe Nicaraguan community abroad is mourning the departure of one of its distinguished members.
Carlos Pérez Macías, born in Managua in 1950, was a well-known painter and respected intellectual during the days of La Tortuga Morada nightclub in Managua, Nicaragua in the early 70s, before the devastating earthquake of Dec. 23, 1972, destroyed the capital.
He was known for his exquisite taste for the arts, especially poetry, painting and photography, which took him to freelance for the New York Times and Elle Magazine up to 1981.
Some of his many accomplishments include doing his early studies in Catholic school and studied law at the Jesuit Catholic University of Nicaragua.
In a biography, he is described as an independent, which leading him far away from main street and taking the lonely road of the innovators, far from pleasing the art market plagued with repetition and common places.
Between 1974-1978 he studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, France. He moved to New York in 1979, to Nicaragua during the Revolution in 1981, and to Los Angeles in 1983, where he entered the City College of Los Angeles to study Cinema and graduated in 1989.
Bianca JaggerEl Reportero was not able to locate his older sister, Bianca Jagger at press time to gather more information about his death; however, the célèbre UN human and animal rights leader, and first wife of Rolling Stone singer Mick Jagger, expressed her mourn and the place of burial in her tweeter site.
“I am grieving the loss of my beloved brother Carlos Pérez-Macías. I will miss his indomitable spirit, courage, joie de vivre and sense of humor,” wrote Mrs. Jagger.
For Adrián Bermudez, a long-time Nicaraguan living in SF, Perez-Macías, was someone exceptional.
Nicaraguan Adrián Bermúdez, an old-time SF resident, who first reported the news to El Reportero about his death, recounted the days of his high school years when both graduated from the most prestigious school in Nicaragua. They graduated together from Instituto Pedagógico de Managua – La Salle, in January of 1968, the same year, but 10 months later, that Anastacio Somoza Portocarrero also graduated – in the same school.
Five years ago, Bermúdez saw him by chance at the SF’s popular La Boheme Café on 24th Street, where they exchanged impressions and talked about the old days, (Pérez-Macías) was an intelligent man, progressist in his way of thinking, and a great artist who painted in the style of Pablo Picasso, Bermúdez said.
“He used to publish his painting in facebook… he had a strong conviction about himself that when he had a conversation, and you didn’t agree with his ideas, he would cut you off,” Bermúdez said.
Pérez-Macías funeral services were held in his town of domicile in Los Ángeles, California, on Jan. 27 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Santa Monica Blvd.
Following is a list of the many personal exhibitions of his art during his lifetime:
La Galerie de Lille, Paris, France (1977); Les Sorcieres Mecaniques, La Galerie de Lille, Paris, France (1978); La Galerie de Lille, Paris, France (1979); Erickson Gallery, New York, NY (1981); Spanish Culture Institute, Managua, Nicaragua (1981); Mechanical Sorceries and Clowns, New Directions Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1984); Woods of Holly Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA (1993); Uforum, Mayhood Center, Santa Monica, CA (1993); Galerie Seraqui, Paris, France (1993); and Images from Zakhar, Cobalt, Los Angeles, CA (1994). He has also taken part in many group exhibitions, such as at The June Group, Leslie Lohman Gallery, NY (1981); Galerie Seraqui, Paris, France (1982); Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1989); Glendale Public Library, Glendale, CA (1991); Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (1991); Onyx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1991, 1992); Galeria Otra Vez, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles CA (1993); Galeria Victor Navarro, Mexico City, Mexico (1993); Galeria Lourdez Chumacero, Mexico City, Mexico (1993); Onyx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1993); UFO Expo West National Convention, Los Angeles, CA (1993); Tann Gallery, Taos, New Mexico (1993); Downtown Lives 94, DADA, Los Angeles, CA (1994); LA Rhythms, Spring Street Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Galeria Las Americas, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Montebello City Hall, CA (1994); UFO Expo West National Convention, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Celebrate Dance, Arts Center, Juried Exhibit, Santa Barbara, CA (1994); Creativity and Peace in Nicaragua, Casa Cultural Nicaraguense, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Carlin G. Smith Center, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Discovery Tour, Random Gallery, Los Angeles,CA (1994); Andres Art Gallery, Breda, The Netherlands (1994); Downtown Lives 94, DADA, Los Angeles, CA (1994); LA Rhythms, Spring Street Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1994); Jacobo Karpio Atma Gallery, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela (1994-5); Galeria Praxis International, Mexico City, Mexico (1995); and Pallete des Artists, Pasadena, CA (1995).
