Carlos Castro Pérez is continuing a great reggae legacy

Carlos Castro Pérez is an artist from Spain making lovable caricatures of well-known reggae artists. His dream is to publish his art as a way to acknowledge the music he loves. United Reggae has talked to him about his passion and inspiration and got his comments to five drawings.

Caricatures are widely used all over the world to exaggerate or distort the essence of a person, and sometimes also an animal or an object. It creates an easily identifiable visual likeness by using some notable characteristics, usually to insult or complement politicians and celebrities.

“I love people and their expressions and I used to draw my classmates and some teachers in school. Later I studied art and I started to think more seriously about drawing and painting to earn a living,” says Spanish illustrator and reggae aficionadoCarlos Castro Pérez, and explains how he works when drawing his art:

“I am always listening music while I paint the caricatures. If I paint musicians I play their albums for inspiration and motivation and also to get some ideas from their lyrics. I think music and art is a really nice combination.”

Caricatures and dancehall

Carlos Castro Pérez follows a great tradition in reggae music when drawing caricatures. Jamaican newspaper Jamaican Observer uses caricatures in their editorial section and over the past year reggae artists such as Vybz Kartel and Busy Signal have been portrayed many times due to their troubles with the law.

Caricatures have also been used widely for reggae cover sleeves, and two of the most notable artists in that area are Wilfred Limonious and Tony McDermott. Their excellent work can be seen on hundreds of albums during the dancehall craze in the 80’s.

“I enjoy the rasta culture and the natural living. Reggae music is peace, love and unity between different people around the globe,” he explains.

Dreams about publishing a book

At the moment he only manages to draw the caricatures on his spare time, but hopefully his dream can come through.

“I would like to publish a book with caricatures of reggae artists and go to Jamaica to give them away to them as an acknowledgment. And of course, I’d like to collaborate with magazines to do illustrations or be a photographer. It would be my dream job,” he explains.

United Reggae is able to publish five of his best caricatures and received his comments on each.

Damian Marley

Damian Marley is one of my favorite artists and I did this painting the same time as he released Set Up Shop. I thought that it would be a good idea to do a painting and publish it on Internet.

Lutan Fyah

Lutan Fyah is my favorite reggae artist and I had the opportunity to assist at one of his shows at Summerjam 2010. I took photos of him and I did this caricature taking reference from one of the photos taken that day.

Bob Marley

The great Bob Marley must be painted always. It’s my contribution to his legacy and my way of give thanks to him for his music and for all his knowledge about life.

Peter Tosh

Peter Tosh is one of the greatest reggae stars in history, so I did this caricature for him.

Bunny Wailer

Bunny Wailer is an excellent musician, a legend and member of The Wailers, so it was enough for me to start this caricature.