02.11.12 10:10 PM

In 2009 Fabian Perez was named the official artist of the 10th annual Latin Grammy Awards. In 2010 Perez was selected to paint the 2010 Winter Olympics. Growing up in Argentina, Fabian Perez, Argentine painter, developed a fondness for art through his parents, who possessed strong creative sides but were never professional artists. His mother drew, and it rubbed off on Perez, who excelled in art classes and painted murals on the walls of his school at his teachers' requests. The stories and photographs of what happened inside filtered back to Perez, and the air of sensuality and romanticism can be found in the portraits of women and nightclub scenes he paints today. Another influential force in Perez's artistic development was a martial arts instructor he started studying under when he was 18, the same year his father died. That time in Perez's life was tough, as his mother also had died three years earlier.At 22, Perez moved with the instructor to Italy where he spent seven years developing his craft and writing a book titled "Reflections of a Dream", which was later published in the United States. After Italy, he moved to Japan and painted two pieces that are now on display at a government house. After a year there, he moved to Beverly Hills where he currently resides.When artist Fabian Perez captures a person or place on canvas, he doesn't just portray the outward beauty. He taps into the mood of the moment and leaves a powerful feeling in the wake of his brush strokes.