Capital of Texas, welcome the capital of Peru – or some of its fine artists. “Patterns of Peru and Texas,” an exhibit sponsored by Austin Lima Sister Cities Committee and the International Center of Austin, features paintings and sculptures by 19 artists from Peru, some of whom live there (e.g., Del Nino Ladron, Fiorella Marcone Flores, and the husband-and-wife creative duo of Ricardo Diaz and Nelly Mayhua Mendoza) and some of whom call Austin home (such as Alonso Rey-Sanchez, Augusto Brocca, Ricardo Puémape, and George McFarland).
Rey-Sanchez, who shows at Austin Galleries, attended the Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes del Perú, an esteemed Spanish colonial school in Lima that teaches the classical Western canon. (Three other artists in the show also studied the Old Masters there.) McFarland’s wood sculptures resemble a more hopeful and diet-conscious Henry Moore; his elegantly simple abstracts suggest soothing cranes or spirits reaching upward. Jose Humberto Guevara Hurtado uses a flat folksy style and rainbow palette to paint densely populated landscapes that are hilarious, a Peruvian Where’s Waldo? Cézanne and Chagall get a nod in Fiorella Marcone Flores’ Arcos, while pop art embellishes Nelly Mayhua Mendoza’s broken toys and romanticized relics.
The opening reception, Thursday, Oct. 4, 6-9pm, will also serve to raise funds for victims of the Aug. 15 earthquake in Pisco, Peru. David Sovero, a Peruvian residing in North Carolina, will perform Andean music.
“Patterns of Peru and Texas” is on view Oct. 4-31 at the International Center of Austin, 201 E. Second. For more information, call 477-3099 or visit www.austinlima.org.
This article appears in October 5 • 2007.