Enoc Perez Puerto Rican, b. 1967
When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved, 2023
Oil on canvas
152.4 x 121.9 cm. (60 x 48 in.)
Copyright The Artist
When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved (2023) is a vivid oil painting by Enoc Perez, depicting Bacardi rum bottles and half-empty cocktail glasses....
When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved (2023) is a vivid oil painting by Enoc Perez, depicting Bacardi rum bottles and half-empty cocktail glasses. The work channels the seductive aesthetics of liquor advertising while offering a critical reflection on consumer culture. Rich in sensory detail, it balances the allure of commercial imagery with a painterly pursuit of beauty for its own sake.
Perez returns here to a motif he began exploring in the early 2000s. His depiction of Bacardi bottles carries a distinct architectonic quality, echoing his enduring fascination with modernist structures and monuments – a central thread in his practice. When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved is also deeply personal, tracing the artist’s journey through temptation and excess to over 15 years of sobriety.
The Bacardi bottle, Puerto Rico’s national spirit, functions as a layered metaphor: both aspirational and disillusioning. It recalls the glossy alcohol advertisements of the 1970s, which promised pleasure and sophistication, yet often masked emptiness. Perez’s process amplifies this duality. Beginning with coloured drawings, he applies oil paint to the reverse of acetate using oil sticks, then transfers the image to canvas. The resulting surface – grainy and imprecise – resembles early Xerox prints, evoking nostalgia and faded glamour.
This series aligns conceptually with Perez’s earlier depictions of iconic mid-century hotels – symbols of utopian ambition, affluence, and design-driven optimism. Those works reflected a specific moment in Puerto Rico’s modernisation, marked by economic growth and tourism under a colonial shadow. The Bacardi paintings continue this line of enquiry, scrutinising the seductive illusions of both corporate and national identity.
With its Pop-inflected sensibility, the series contrasts the polished promises of advertising with the sobering realities of alcohol consumption. Perez exposes the rift between consumer fantasy and lived experience, offering a critique that is as personal as it is cultural. The vibrant palettes and soft-focus imagery recall 1970s ad aesthetics, but here they appear spectral – elusive, blurred, and haunted by loss.
Through his distinctive technique and naturalistic handling of paint, Perez elevates commercial imagery into the realm of fine art. The attention to light, texture, and colour in When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved underscores the tension between genuine beauty and manufactured desire, prompting a reconsideration of where art ends and advertising begins.
Perez returns here to a motif he began exploring in the early 2000s. His depiction of Bacardi bottles carries a distinct architectonic quality, echoing his enduring fascination with modernist structures and monuments – a central thread in his practice. When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved is also deeply personal, tracing the artist’s journey through temptation and excess to over 15 years of sobriety.
The Bacardi bottle, Puerto Rico’s national spirit, functions as a layered metaphor: both aspirational and disillusioning. It recalls the glossy alcohol advertisements of the 1970s, which promised pleasure and sophistication, yet often masked emptiness. Perez’s process amplifies this duality. Beginning with coloured drawings, he applies oil paint to the reverse of acetate using oil sticks, then transfers the image to canvas. The resulting surface – grainy and imprecise – resembles early Xerox prints, evoking nostalgia and faded glamour.
This series aligns conceptually with Perez’s earlier depictions of iconic mid-century hotels – symbols of utopian ambition, affluence, and design-driven optimism. Those works reflected a specific moment in Puerto Rico’s modernisation, marked by economic growth and tourism under a colonial shadow. The Bacardi paintings continue this line of enquiry, scrutinising the seductive illusions of both corporate and national identity.
With its Pop-inflected sensibility, the series contrasts the polished promises of advertising with the sobering realities of alcohol consumption. Perez exposes the rift between consumer fantasy and lived experience, offering a critique that is as personal as it is cultural. The vibrant palettes and soft-focus imagery recall 1970s ad aesthetics, but here they appear spectral – elusive, blurred, and haunted by loss.
Through his distinctive technique and naturalistic handling of paint, Perez elevates commercial imagery into the realm of fine art. The attention to light, texture, and colour in When The Going Gets Tough, It Is Nice To Know You Are Loved underscores the tension between genuine beauty and manufactured desire, prompting a reconsideration of where art ends and advertising begins.