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Bruno C'copa

"I studied drawing and painting at the Lima School of Fine Arts and graduated in 1997. When I was a boy, I'd paint landscapes and people from the neighborhood in tempera on cardboard. My skills grew as I did, and this became evident at home and at school. I always filled several pages of each notebook with graphite sketches.

"But until I started at the School of Fine Arts, I'd only worked with tempera. It was there that I first worked in oils and acrylic. Working with color was a very pleasant adventure because it is complemented by distinct techniques. Since my days as a student, I've always worked with the human figure as my main theme. Sometimes I work realistically, other times I use a freer and more spontaneous technique.

"When I permit myself more freedom and spontaneity, I can transform the figure, adding wings, recreating faces or even omitting a face sometimes. This perhaps changes a being because the people I paint are not unreal – they are persons. What I do is paint them as I wish to see them. When I tire of this, I return to realism, as both styles are a part of my art. For me, realism requires special care to achieve the desired effects. The first style liberates me, while the second disciplines me.

"In addition to painting, I also studied handicrafts in the CENCA (Centro de Formación Artesanal of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura). There I specialized in masks and retablos, the traditional dioramas from Ayacucho. In Bellas Artes, I also took courses in ceramics.

"Handicrafts permitted me to know the magical and religious aspects of traditional motifs. Learning to make masks was a true adventure in this field. My desire to transform the figure became palpable, as I could feel the forms, their volume, etc. of the faces I represented in my paintings. The freedom of mask making allows me to create personages from my imagination. Before I begin an artwork, I look at images in catalogs, magazines, books, exhibits and museums. When I began creating masks, I felt as though I'd always done this.

"I feel especially comfortable with what I do, either painting or craftwork, because for me art is life - and it contemplates everything."