Jose Perez has seized the opportunity to take up the torch from the greatest satirical artists of the past at a time when relationships between sufferers and their healers are undergoing unprecedented changes. Many infamous diseases from the past have all but disappeared, and others are on the run, exiting stage left. Lifestyle is the magic ingredient in the etiology of today's most notable diseases. Heart attacks, cancer, and AIDS are blamed on the way we live, not on the gods or even microbes. The patient is now recognized by both sufferers and healers to be perhaps the most important member of the health-care team.
Medical ethics is debated on our front pages, and death with dignity is a sought-after right.
The drawings preceding each of Perez' paintings show some of the experimentation and developmental thought he went through with each subject. Somtimes the simple sketches are as much fun to view as the detailed paintings, which are intricate oils on canvas that communicate different messages to different people at different times. In one frame of mind, one can view his art with gentle humor, and at another time, be moved to reform a frailty or outright deception. At first glance, it may appear that some of Perez' art treats too disrepectifully those who do so much to preserve life and health. But his satire is intended to prod the viewer to question and think about many of the more serious issues confronting our helath-care system today.