Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you so
Que onda, I’m Angel Perdomo, I’m a Latino painter originally from Honduras (shout out to all my catracha/o/xs !) that was raised in Metairie/New Orleans. I mostly paint with acrylic and airbrush.

How were you introduced to the mediums that you work with?
Drawing from a young age my dad used to play this kinda exquisite corpse game with me and my younger brothers. The other stuff like painting was through grade school but it was boring ha ha, I was all graphite drawing that was my shit, I was like a human scanner, but I was introduced to airbrushing in freshman year of High school (2004), my teacher let me use it and man I was hooked but he then retired so I didn’t really mess with it again til like 2014 when I decided to bring it back into my practice.

Are there any influences that are core to your work?
Probably at its purest core it’s the Homies, all those foos are killing it and probably the reason I’m still making work. But other influences it’s probably low rider magazine, like I used to be in the Walgreens magazine section deep in the back of the lowrider’s mag looking at the images foos would send in to be featured in the artist section. Other influences def comes from music, cartoons, tattoos, and old illustrative work from ads and magazines.

Is there a moment you look back on as being formative to your identity as an artist?
It’s probably my freshman year of college where I ditched what I intended to do and made the grave mistake of pursuing art ha ha ha, but naw it probably the best choice I made and set me in the path I’m in today.

What is your process for creating a work?
A lot of my work starts of in the note section in my phone some stuff sits there for a couple years, either I forget I wrote or I think about the composition, then I either draw a composition on paper or directly to the canvas, then paint and airbrush …. But I don’t have like a set process I just be going in and seeing what I think would look cool or make the final image interesting.

How does your environment influence your work?
I think a lot of my environment influence comes out in my work by form of the iconography, from animals native to both Louisiana and Honduras, to landmarks or objects like food specific to the region and etc.

Is there something you want your work to communicate to the viewer?
I wouldn’t say to communicate one whole ideology but to tell a story, not just a story about me but a story of my heritage and experience that have been shaped by living down south and add to a dialogue that has already been establish by Chicano movement and other Latine artist before me.

What kind of imagery are you drawn to?
I think from a young age I always been drawn to images of misery, despair, and death …. I love a good misery face, like them baroque Foos or like Goya 3 de Mayo or his Los Caprichos series, like you real have to feel to display that in work, man like happy shit we all can fake that it the easiest of face to put on, but despair and misery those are a true emotion so yeah I think those are images I’m really drawn to and sometimes influence my work

How do you manage tending to the variety of responsibilities in the work you do? How do you mitigate burnout or exhaustion?
A lot of times I’m multi-tasking on 4-5 things at once while painting, so probably not the smartest of choices for workflow, so sometimes things get tiring, but I’m also on a flight or fight and its making art or death ha ha. Burnout and artist block does happen but I just power through it by either keep making work, drawing mindless stuff, or telling myself “It’s either you wear it out or it going to wear you out’’

What’s your current studio or workspace like? Do you have any rituals when you settle in there?
My studio is a decent size like I have two full walls, but here a pic of it. As far as rituals I blast music, music varies could be house, rap cumbia and I’m definitely playing corridos, and get to working.

What is your experience like as an artist living and working in Louisiana?
I love Louisiana and New Orleans; without them I don’t think I would have the experiences I carry with me or my work, so I don’t want to be so harsh on it, but honestly as a working artist it sucks it’s super over saturated, the galleries or art spaces outside of the state forget their art great artist that come from here or are from here, then a lot of artists get overlooked because there’s only so many spaces to show your work, New Orleans is technically a small town …. But if you willing to hustle and put your practice as do or die then yeah you can make it as an artist here but it’s hard but rewarding.

What do you collect?
In the last year I started to collect books from artist I like to look at for reference or inspiration, but I’m a big vinyl figure collector, especially Yokai and bootleg toys. I’m also a big collector of sneaker, not a sneaker head , but I do enjoy looking and buying sneakers, like we not talking about just J’s (Jordans) we talking like Air Max, or the Charles Barkley Air Max 94 , but I really wanting to get the Bo Jackson air trainers for a minute but always miss out , but if the sneakers catch my eye they coming home with me most likely. I also like to collect old, illustrated ads from magazine especially if they are hand painted for print. I probably collect a lot more stuff but those are my top 3 things to collect.

Interviewed by Luca Lotruglio.