In this essay, researcher Ivette Villarreal offers a partial chronology on specific works produced by the Venezuelan artist Régulo Pérez from 1968, describing the series of sketches and notes he made in situ at the construction of the Guri Dam. She contemplates the art produced from the sketches, specifically the theme referring to “the coexistence between persecutors and the persecuted,” while also noting that he returned to the same theme in the mid-1970s, although using wood assemblages at that time. Villarreal also makes reference to Pérez’s most recent work (circa 1996), highlighting his “metamorphic” discourse from which he develops his approach.

Ivette Villarreal was the author who wrote “La salvación por la imagen” about the exhibition Operación rescate by the visual arts artist Régulo Pérez (b. 1929) at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Caracas(1996). The author highlights and concretely describes the various thematic experiences related to Pérez’s artistic production. It is also different from much of the other analyses written on Pérez’s work, as it emphasized the theme of duality in a realistic context between “the persecutors and the persecuted” in regards to “the construction of the Guri Dam” and its effect on the environment. Villarreal helps the viewers in identifying the thematic contents and the links within the context of creation, increasing its critical and communicative value, a relevant aspect given that very few texts which analyze the work by Pérez clearly articulate the specific context involving its production. [To this regard, refer to the text written by Juan Calzadilla, “Régulo Pérez: Compromiso con la realidad” in El ojo que pasa: crónicas sobre la creatividad (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editors, 1969), p. 61; and the text by Rafael Pineda, “Naturaleza y cultura” (Caracas: Acquavella Gallery, 1981), n.p.; also reproduced in the catalogue Régulo (Porlamar: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Francisco Narváez, 1982, n.p.)]. In a way, Villarreal’s point of view allows one to understand this work from a more formalized perspective thereby overcoming any trite generalizations.

[Regarding this artist’s work, see in the ICAA digital archive the texts by Rafael Pineda “Régulo y el eje Orinoco – Pintura” (doc. no. 1154220) and “Naturaleza y cultura” (doc. no. 1154268), original text taken from the catalogue Régulo (Caracas: Acquavella, 1981); by Bélgica Rodríguez “ Régulo: un nuevo lenguaje” (doc. no. 1157776); by Roberto Guevara “Régulo y la cultura visual” (doc. no. 1157759); by Carlos Yusti “Régulo Pérez o la múltiple actividad creadora” (doc. no. 1154156); the analysis by Jesús Sanoja Hernández “Prólogo serio para el más serio de nuestros humoristas” (doc. no. 1154188); the text by Mingui Betancourt “Pinto vampiros porque no sé pintar flores” (doc. no. 1157808); and “Conversando con Régulo Pérez. Entrevistado por Berna Parra, María Eugenia Sánchez y Margarita Villarroel” (doc. no. 1154236)].