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Vidal Bedoya Altamirano

In the land of Peruvian artistry, Vidal Bedoya (Lima, 1964) is a rebel defeated by art and in so being, his themes are charged with a mysterious magnetism that is both attracting and yet confusing. Within his prolific work, one finds revolution and kindness in a symbiotic union, highlighting the beauty of his ancestral heritage.

A graduate from the Escuela Nacional Superior de Bellas Artes in Lima, Vidal conceives creation and testimony as the fundamental duty of any artist. Even though he appears to be an old teenager, he is not a sentimental painter - truth and legend are the essence of the work of this rebellious angel.

"I only paint. I work. I believe in what I do. Even as a child, I have always had a quiet predisposition for drawing and painting. I enjoyed observing without realizing I was feeding my vocation. I am inspired by ancestral Peruvian culture, I express it in my paintings without intellectualizing it. My art also depicts experiences from my social environment, human emotions, and for these I am inspired by the works of Oswaldo Guayasamin.

"The process of my work is quite simple: I start with a rough draft or in front of the canvas. At times I'm not sure of what I want to paint. Each painting has its own birth and even a different process - paintings are enriched by our fears and doubts and our pain enlightens them.

"As for my artistic trajectory, I have participated in individual exhibitions in Chile, Cuba and the United States as well as in my own country, where I've also participated in numerous collective exhibitions. I don't take part in contests, save for those when I was at school. The biggest challenge I've had to face in my life is to be dedicated to painting in a country such as ours where prejudice still exists concerning artistic creations - this at times has affected me, but then I understood it with a sense of service and the vocation of the artist. My art is open and reassures me that I have a great disposition for teaching, but first I must warn you - I am not the best there is.

"As for the value of my art, to the margin of what is intrinsic, I believe in money when a person appreciates my work. I like free composition, arbitrary designs. Before being an artist, I am an admirer of paintings. I don't believe in easy praise. I am always questioning myself: I am my own worst critic.

"To the Novica clients I can say that in my art they can expect violent beauty and unusual tenderness. My paintings approach my roots with a healthy contemporary vision."

Vidal Bedoya's work has an essential pre-Hispanic symbolism without being ornamental. His thematic is suggestive, his colors are bright, with intense red and yellow prevailing throughout a surface of enigmatic texture as they bear witness to the volcanic energy of this young artist who has taken it upon himself to defy mountains, with only the aid of his brush.