Local artist A. J. Perez explores the space between two points in latest exhibition, Headliners

A line is any interval between two points. Those two points can be anything from A and B to X and Y.

For artist Alexis Javier Perez Santiago, those two points not only manifest one-line portraits of locals and celebrities alike, but also represent the path of life between birth and death.

“I'm entering the page, entering the surface, entering this realm,” says Perez. “And here's this birth into this journey, this life path, and then death, the end, and that transition to the next, whatever's next.”

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What began as a simple drawing exercise to get back into the swing of creativity after an artistic hiatus will coalesce in an exhibition titled, Head Liners. The show opens on Friday from 6-8 p.m. at Location Gallery, located at 251 Bull St. The gallery will be offering in-person portrait sittings with Perez on opening night, Saturday from 1-4 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 29 from 1-4 p.m. All profits from the show will be donated to ARTS Southeast, a nonprofit dedicated to making Savannah an arts and culture destination by supporting local established and emerging artists.

Head Liners will run in the main gallery through February.

While the origin for the show’s concept can be traced back to 2009 when Perez first started doing one-line portraits for friends and family, it can be traced back further to when he first learned the exercise in high school, which was also where his portraiture background began. Then he was reintroduced to the technique during his foundation drawing classes at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD).

“So it's just used as a technique to kind of work your hand-eye coordination, build up your drawing skills,” explains Perez.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in fashion in 2006, Perez took time off from art making. “I was kind of burnt out after school,” Perez says. “[I] was like, ‘screw the fashion industry. I don't want to buy another sewing machine for quite some time.’” He points to a program restructuring that may have played a significant part in these feelings.

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“And [to] no fault of the school. We were like the guinea pigs for the new program they had, so it was like a lot of trial and error.”

There tends to be this mass exodus that occurs every spring of SCAD graduates leaving Savannah to big cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and the shiny, young artist magnet New York. Instead of following his original plan of moving to New York after graduation, Perez decided to stay in Savannah.

A few years before, in the summer of 2002, Perez had spent time in Brooklyn pursuing an internship. “Within that experience, I just kind of had some insights into the life of, you know, being in the big city, the hustle and tussle, the go go go,” Perez says. “It was just zoom zoom zoom, but then as soon as you get to where you're going, it's like ‘Alright, go hard, party hard, we’re doin’ this, let’s go.’ And then back at it again the next day.”

After he returned from New York, he took some time off from school and spent time just living and working in Savannah. It was then he realized he much preferred the slower pace of the coastal city. “I enjoyed the opportunities of casually sitting out at a cafe or taking a walk and bumping into familiar faces and people actually saying hello and having a conversation, and sharing what they're working on,” Perez says. “Because it's such such a creative, vibrant city down here. [There are] a lot of artists who are trying to do their thing, whether they're at SCAD or not.”

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Although Savannah’s art scene is well-known and well-loved by long-time residents, it has been stuck for some time now on the precipice of establishing itself as a hub for the arts beyond its city limits. Any number of factors can play a role, large or small, in what molds a city’s identity. While Perez suggests consistent monetary support from the city would be a critical necessity, he also believes there should be a “more substantial entity that has a larger voice at city council” to push for that support.

“I think that once we have an official arts and culture commission, we could produce some sort of a biennial or triennial, like a very large arts event in the city,” Perez says. Noting the success of the SCAD Film Festival and the Savannah Book Festival, “we could have another event geared toward visual arts on that scale, where we’re bringing in artists from all over the world who are of that caliber to present and show a collection or some works in our numerous galleries around town.”

Of course, movements are called such because they are change in motion. If there is any principle central to movements, it’s the commitment to keep going with purpose for however long it takes to get from point A to point B.

As Perez explains, “If you follow the line closely, you could see this point where I might slow down or stop. I stop for a second, trying to think of the next move. Or maybe I’m not sure of the next move as I'm going and there's a little bit of waviness or bumpiness, and you can sense the anxiety in the line,” the same can be said of Savannah’s journey to finally realizing its full potential as a notable arts destination.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: A.J. Perez opens Headliners at Location Gallery in Savannah GA