Róger Pérez de la Rocha

Róger Pérez de la Rocha (; born 27 March 1949 in Managua, Nicaragua ) is a Nicaraguan painter and portrait artist.

Early life Róger Pérez de la Rocha’s parents were Teresa Pérez Rocha and Luis Franco Cortés. He was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church as Róger Antonio. As Pérez himself explains, his name, following the usual practice in Spanish-speaking countries, should actually be Róger Antonio Franco Pérez, but since his father was married to another woman at the time of his birth, he assumed both his mother’s surnames and even added the “de la” to make it sound better.

He was a founding member of the Asociación Sandinista de Trabajadores de la Cultura (ASTC; “Sandinista Association of Workers in Culture”) and director of the Unión Nacional de Bellas Artes (“National Union of the Fine Arts”) once the Sandinistas came to power in the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. Pérez furthermore completed studies in metal engraving at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City.

From the 1970s and, especially, through the 1980s, working from photographs, Pérez painted a whole series of portraits of Nicaragua’s national hero, Augusto César Sandino as well as his generals and soldiers, creating a whole Sandinista iconography. A portrait of Sandino can be seen in the background of the video under External links.

He has exhibited with other artists in Panama, Cuba, Brazil, the United States, Peru, Spain, France, Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, Mexico and Central America, and alone in Spain, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Róger Pérez de la Rocha also had a hand in setting up the artists' colony in the Solentiname Islands in Lake Nicaragua.

In 1990 he was honoured with the Orden de la Independencia Cultural Rubén Darío, conferred by the Government of Nicaragua. A retrospective of his work took place at the Rubén Darío National Theatre in 1994.

Personal life Róger Pérez de la Rocha fought a thirty-year battle with alcoholism, which he finally overcame, but not before it had destroyed three marriages. He believes that his work saved him, although he also describes this as yet another addiction.

He has been married five times. His wives have been Marta Luz Padilla, Ángela Saballos, Nelba Cecilia Blandón, Rosa María Sánchez and Luvy Rappaccioli with whom he has a daughter, Luisa Margarita del Carmen. He also has a son from his first marriage, Gonzalo Pérez, who is an architect. All Pérez's wives have been Nicaraguan.