Paco Felici (b. 1970) is among the most widely collected American self-taught artists of a young generation. Highly prolific and with a bold, instantly recognizable trademark style, a 2004 review by the Dallas Morning News likened him to "an Andy Warhol with a Latin flair." Art guides and reviewers have even invented dubious terms like "iconic-ironic" to categorize his style. Collectors often debate whether he is to be categorized as a folk or modern artist.
But the artist shrugs any labeling. At best, the will concede that he is impressionistic in his thought process: "Brevity is the essence of wit" is Felici's credo. His deceptively simple works are part of an ongoing artistic evolution, where what at first glance are viscerally amusing works, upon further reflection reveal works far from trivial in their conception.
While he has consistently opted for distinct coloring and a strong sense of line since starting to work as an artist in earnest in 1999, he nonetheless continually broadens the horizons of media, execution and subject matter . To him conceiving art is often the array of multiple considerations a writer faces when cutting to the heart of the matter: Be succinct. Say something new. Be accessible, but elevate others' horizons as well as your own. Entertain but open new doors for yourself and others.
Paco came to prominence through bold and richly colored paintings that echoed the themes of liberty and self-determination as embodied through American icons, from Colonel Sanders to the Statue of Liberty. Since his prolific beginnings, his art continues to delve more deeply into an exploration of re-examining the icons and the everyday objects and persons one takes for granted in the post modern world. Mass consumerism, the pervasiveness of the media, interpersonal relationships, race relations, and cultural conversations are very much in the mind of the artist - revealed to varying degrees in his dizzying array of pieces.
He plays with the subject at hand, re-casting it in a new role. As you can see in these pages, he might have ambivalent feelings about the subject matter, but he never trivializes, is never sarcastic, nor does he pass judgment. He trusts his audience to draw its own conclusions and, hopefully, to have those feelings change and evolve each time the art is viewed. Sometimes the art is just fun to be around. That's allowed, too. Time and again collectors have told Paco: "Your art makes me happy... it makes me laugh." Good enough.
He greatly admires self taught artists, having discovered, helped and developed bonds of friendship with Reverend Seymour Perkins and others for whom art literally saved their lives.
Paco has also developed a close artistic rapport with internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Faris Nourallah. In 2003 he was commissioned to do the cover art for the highly successful album "Problematico" and its single "Gone." In 2005 Faris approached Paco to conceive and execute the artwork for the subsequent "King of Sweden," which, like the preceding releases, were produced by Western Vinyl. In early 2006 Italian label Awful Bliss Records will release "Il Suo Cuore de Transistor" ("Her Transistor Heart") the fourth collaboration between the musician and visual artist.
He also did the cover art and illustrations for Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color, published in 2002 (University of Iowa Press) and underway is "INSPIRED" a retrospective book of some of Paco's most popular works and an analysis of the sources that moved him to create the various pieces.
In 2005 Paco's artwork was featured in "The Wendell Baker Story" - a upcoming Warner Brothers film directed by and starring fellow Texan Owen Wilson and also featuring Texans Eva Mendes and Kris Kristofferson.
His art is in the collections executives hailing from NBC television in Los Angeles, MTV and Comedy Central Television of New York City, and HARPO, Oprah Winfrey's production company in Chicago. His work can also be found in the art collection of the University of Iowa.
Paco's art appears in numerous publications, television programs and films and he has been widely reviewed. His expansive body of work is also included in a growing number of galleries in his home state of Texas and also in Florida, California, Connecticut, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Minnesota, and Tennessee.
Paco also donates his talents to advance numerous charitable causes, including developing the artwork for public awareness campaigns by the Central Texas Literacy Coalition. He has also given artwork for fundraising efforts by charitable institutions that assist immigrants in need and for the Waterloo Center, which provides assistance to persons living with HIV/AIDS in Central Texas.
All images copyright 2002-2005 by Paco Felici