Pejac 'Self Defense' Release Details

Artist: Pejac
Title: Self Defense
Medium: 28 Color Screen Prints
Size: 80 x 57 cm
Edition: 25 (12 Diff Editions)
Price: €3,630

Pejac is a Spanish painter and street artist born in 1977 as Silvestre Santiago in Santander, Spain. His artistic identity formed during his studies in Milan at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, where he became disillusioned with the perceived elitism of his instructors. Seeking to democratize art, he began creating works in public spaces to reach individuals who might never visit a traditional gallery. His technical foundation is broad, spanning fine arts education at universities in Salamanca and Barcelona before his time in Italy.

His work is characterized by a masterful use of trompe-l’œil, a technique that creates three-dimensional illusions on flat surfaces to challenge viewer perception. Pejac frequently employs minimalist silhouettes and stark shadows, often rendered in black ink or paint, to convey complex social and environmental messages. He is noted for his clever adaptations of urban surroundings, such as his 2011 piece "Stain," which depicts a world map draining into a sewer in his hometown.

Beyond his original concepts, Pejac often reinterprets classical masterpieces by artists like Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, placing them in unexpected contexts such as the hull of an abandoned ship or the hood of a luxury car. His repertoire also includes subtractive techniques, where he creates images by scraping paint off weathered walls, notably seen in his projects at the Husn refugee camp in Jordan.