José Santiago Pérez (b. Los Angeles) considers the formal and conceptual spaciousness of containers as a category of object and field of experimentation. José has presented sculpture and performance at museums, art centers, galleries, and artist-run spaces across the country, including the Tomayko Foundation (Pittsburgh), South Bend Museum of Art (South Bend), the International Museum of Surgical Science (Chicago), Graham Foundation (Chicago), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Chicago), Angles Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), and Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami) later this year. José’s work is included in Contemporary Basketry: New Directions from Innovative Artists Worldwide, a survey of 60 artists working in basketry today. Features and reviews have appeared in Artforum, Atelier d’Art de France, Basketry+ Magazine, Sixty Inches from Center, and the Archives+Futures Podcast.

He received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Studio Art at the University of Pittsburgh, and has held teaching appointments in the Art Department at Colorado College and in the Fiber and Material Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Residencies and awards include Surf Point Foundation Artist Residency, the Regional Artist Residency at Contemporary Craft, the Fiber Fellowship at Colorado College, Lunder Institute for American Art Residential Residency, HATCH Residency at Chicago Artists Coalition, and was named an Illinois Arts Council Agency Artist Fellowship Finalist in Craft. José lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA.