Bienvenu Steinberg & C is pleased to present The Invention of Nature by Emilio Pérez. The exhibition marks Pérez's first show in New York in over a decade and unveils his most recent paintings in a departure from his earlier work.

Borrowing its title from Andrea Wulf’s biography of 18th-century German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, the exhibition blends history, myth, and fantasy. Humboldt’s expeditions across South America illuminated the mysteries of the natural world, from measuring the heights of mountains to exploring the depths of Aztec culture. Pérez takes a bold departure from this empirical approach. His vision of nature is not rooted in measurement and geography but in invention and creation. Painted with oil on linen in a muted palette, the familiar contours of mountains and rivers are refracted and diffused through the prism of dreams and myth.

Much like the Renaissance explorers Amerigo Vespucci and Sebastian Cabot, Emilio Pérez embarks on a journey into a New World—one that is not discovered but constituted. His paintings depict landscapes that are pure figments of an interior world. Born in New York in 1972, he grew up with the memories of the Cuba his parents left behind in 1961—a paradise shaped by loss and longing. His visits to the island as an adult challenged his early illusions but ignited his creative process, driving him to explore the origins of his identity. The ethereal colors, irresistibly inviting, convoke a utopia that emerges from the folds of the subconscious.

Emilio Perez attended Pratt Institute and University of Florida's New World School of the Arts. His works have been shown extensively internationally. Select exhibitions include Critical Gestures, PAMM, Miami (2017), Topographies at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (2009); and Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago (2009). Perez had solo exhibitions with Galerie Lelong in both New York and Paris. In 2019, he participated in the 12th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba. His works can be found in the permanent collections of the PAMM - Perez Art Museum, Miami; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Tokyo and Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock. Public commissions include a permanent mosaic installation for New York City’s Metro Transit Authority and a large-scale site-specific video installation for Times Square Arts Midnight Moment.

Read essay by Alfred Macadam HERE