Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(by Wolfy Becker)

I am not an expert in fine arts but I always enjoy beautiful paintings. I have been to the Louvre in Paris and the Pinakothek in Munich, and the Sistine Chapel. I have seen art museums in Vienna and Milan and other European cities but that was a long time ago. I have never been to the Museum of Modern Art or the Guggenheim's.
I have tried to test my skills in watercolor, oil and acrylic painting, but realized soon enough that I lacked patience, creativity and, most importantly, talent. Being an artist just wasn't my destiny.

When I heard about "Noche de Arte", a temporary exhibition held last weekend at the "Museo de la Nación" , showcasing the work of various Peruvian artists, famous or not so famous. I was truly excited, I had to check it out. Until last Friday I had only seen Peruvian art at the various park- and street markets in Miraflores and at a couple of galleries. It always seemed to me that every third piece of Peruvian paintings had the same, obviously very popular, motif: the back of three Andean ladies wearing big hats.

I was told that formal attire was recommended, so I bought a new suit and tie, my wife jumped into the little black one, and off we went in a Tico taxi.

After our arrival, the US ambassador to Peru and his wife greeted us with a handshake and a little introduction (the US embassy was one of the main sponsors of the event). We picked up a glass of champagne and a little snack from one of the waiter's trays and headed for the exhibition room. Boy was I naive! My previous impression was quickly reversed. The three big hats were nowhere to be seen, instead I saw wonderful pieces of art, classic or modern, huge or tiny, cheap or expensive, according to my wallet. It took me about thirty minutes to (mostly) enjoy the pieces hanging on the white walls of that room. Lots of people were there chatting with each other and socializing, some of them were blocking the art lover's view which is much better from a distance measured in meters and not in centimeters. Amazingly, the complete collection was up for sale. Prices ranged from $150 - $32,000 dollars. I decided before it was best to first look at the picture, admire the little details and quality, check for a hidden message or inspiration sent by the artist, then make my judgement whether I like it or not and THEN check the little price note. Of course, the one's that positively jumped into my eye were also the one's carrying a 4- or 5-digit price tag :-)

To my surprise, this wasn't the only room and it weren't just paintings on display. Four or five more halls followed, with sculptures, photographic art, handicrafts and other artifacts; and in the middle of all this was an illuminated dance floor used for live performances of ballet dancers.

I also recognized a few familiar faces, probably from watching too much TV or so, but I decided to redirect my attention back to the white walls. There was a lovely little painting I really liked, kind of abstract with a great mix of colors dominated by orange, red and blue. Then, following my strategy, I looked at the price and was pleasently surprised that it would not put a big hole in my wallet either. I told one of the nearby ushers, salespeople, advisors ... not sure how you call them ... that I was interested in buying it, after all most of its price went to charity. However, the nice lady drew my attention to a little red dot on the price tag, a sign that someone before us was a tick quicker. Bummer!

Nevertheless it was a wonderful, enjoyable, evening and before leaving we noticed that the red dots had multiplied like rabbits.

And that was most important.

Perhaps I will get my picture next year, I am already looking forward to it.








tags : Peru Lima art culture nochedearte entertainment

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