About

My work begins by pointing at the things I’m looking at and seeing through. I do this with the understanding that photography is not neutral and that it's an apparatus that separates the body’s imagination from the landscape. By acknowledging the lens I’m looking through, I’m also recognizing it as a junction rather than a passage, and within, I can pivot. Rather than offering resolution, I can open up to the instability of representation. Where perception becomes conscious of its own conditioning, and where images reveal themselves as cultural currency that organizes memory, value, and power. 

Ryan Perez (b. 1982, Oceanside, CA) makes photographs, sculptures, and videos. His work has been exhibited at sites including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The UC Riverside Sweeney Art Gallery; The California Museum of Photography, UC Riverside, Ca; Phase Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Yautepec Gallery, CD, MX; C24 Gallery, NY, NY; Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles; Samuel Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles; The Fulcrum Press, Los Angeles, Ca; Control Room, Los Angeles, Ca; and The Brand Library Art Gallery, Glendale, CA. 

Perez's studio is in Monrovia, CA, and he teaches at ArtCenter College of Design.

Education 

2012

  • University of California, Riverside, Master of Fine Arts

2008

  • Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, Bachelor of Fine Arts

Professorships

2017 - Present

  • ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, Full-Time, Associate Professor 

2010 - 2021 (Adjunct Assignments)

  • Citrus College, Glendora, Ca

  • Pasadena City College, Pasadena, Ca

  • Cal Baptist University, Riverside, Ca

  • Riverside City College, Riverside, Ca

  • Heart of Los Angeles Youth, Los Angeles, Ca

Exhibition History

Individual & 2 Person Exhibitions 

2024

  • Long Distance, Ryan Perez & Ricky Weaver at Phase Gallery, Los Angeles 

2015

  • Bad Faith, Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico

2014

  • Altered States, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2013

  • Art Los Angeles Contemporary, w/ Yautepec Gallery, Santa-Monica, Ca

2012

  • Don't Say Goodnight, Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico

2012

  • The Arrival, LACMA Special Projects, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Ca

2012

  • UC Riverside Thesis Show, Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA.

Group Exhibitions

2025

  • Concrete Hope, Curated by Erika Hirugami, Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California 

2024

-Identificar X, Mullen Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, Ca


2022 

  • Perris, Fulcrum Press & Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, Ca

  • Friendzone, Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista, Ca

2019 

  • In the Sunshine of Neglect, Curated by Douglas McCulloh, California Museum of Photography, Riverside, Ca

2018 

  • Vision Valley, Curated by The Pit Gallery for the Brand Library, Glendale, Ca

2017 

  • All the Small Things, Steve Turner Contemporary; 

  • Material Art Fair w/Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico; 

  • Far Bazaar, Cerritos College, Cerritos, Ca.

2016 

  • Material Art Fair w/Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico; 

  • Critical Distance, Art Center College of Design Alumni Show, Pasadena, Ca

  • Dream Art Fair Miami w/Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico.

2015

  • Second Wave: Aesthetics of the ʻ80s in Today's Contemporary Art, UCR Sweeny Art Gallery, Riverside, CA, USA

  • Gray Grey, Vacancy, Los Angeles, CA,

2014 

  • INPUT/OUTPUT, FotoFocus Biennial, DAAP Galleries, Cincinnati, OH, USA

  • Apollo TBD, Samuel Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

  • Art Los Angeles Contemporary , w/Yautepec, Los Angeles, CA

2013 

  • Insider Sports, Control Room, Los Angeles, CA, USA

  • NADA Miami Beach, w/Yautepec, Miami Beach, FL, USA

  • Art-O-Rama , w/Yautepec, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France

2012 

  • a car, a man, a maraca, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, Ca

  • Dualities, Arts Brooksfield Bank of America, Los Angeles, Ca

  • BOOM, Southern California MFA Group Exhibition, West Hollywood, Ca

  • Immaterial Ergonomics , Space4art, San Diego, Ca

  • Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Yautepec Gallery, Santa Monica, Ca

2011 

  • L.A. Print: Edition 2, Pepin Moore/Presented by LACMA, Los Angeles, Ca

  • Co/Lab with Control Room, Art Platform Los Angeles, Presented by Artra Curatorial, Los Angeles, Ca

  • Centerfold, Freak City, Hollywood, CA

  • Slam Socks, People's Gallery, San Francisco, Ca

  • Other People's Parties, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, Ca

  • Seven Minutes in Heaven, Control Room, Los Angeles, Ca