Ronnie Cutrone’s career began at the Factory in 1965. After performing with the Velvet Underground band, produced by Andy Warhol, he became one of his closest collaborators. He worked alongside him on the launch of Interview magazine and on certain series such as the “Piss paintings”, for which Warhol asked him to take extra doses of vitamin B to improve the oxidation reactivity of his urine. He immortalized daily life at the Factory in a series of stereoscopic 3D color photographs, including images of Warhol at work and shots of his visitors, among whom Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, Dennis Hopper and Paloma Picasso.

A key player in this era, he was a privileged witness to artistic movements ranging from punk to pop. It was in this context that Cutrone developed his own artistic practice and post-Pop imagery, featuring iconic characters such as Woody Woodpecker, Bart Simpson and Bugs Bunny. A true testimony to the creative effervescence of New York, his works were first exhibited at the Richard Feigen Gallery in 1969 and have been in important private and public collections since his success at Art Basel in 1982.

The foundation of Pérez’s reflection relies on a Puerto Rico that lies in the depths of its being as well as on an extensive archive of documentary material from the 1960s, featuring promotional content for the island. This seminal material carries powerful connotations for both natives and foreigners alike, and Perez masterfully transmutes it into a personal form of artistic expression.

“When I started to make paintings of rum bottles, I made them because they were to me, self-portraits, still life’s, American pop art and lies. Drinking rum never made me popular with women or rich or happy. It made me an alcoholic and still I love those images. Very much like Stockholm syndrome.” Enoc Pérez, September 2023.