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Bartolo

"Hello. I'm Javier Lizardo Bartolo Vidal and I was born in Lima on October 16, 1952. At the age of 11, I found I liked painting. One of my brothers painted and, as I watched him, my interest began to grow. At school I liked to play with colors. After finishing high school, I began to paint on glass, something that fascinated me. In 1995, I entered the School of Fine Arts. At the same time, I worked in the Instituto Nacional Penitenciario teaching drawing and painting. I even took my own samples with those of the prisoners to give them an incentive and help them get ahead. This still motivates me today and I haven't left that job. For me, it is a way of helping people in some way, perhaps a small one, but I believe art is a very special way of bringing feelings of peace to everyone's heart.

"My themes are diverse. My first is one I call 'hope' for the situation of the prisoners when their family doesn't visit them. It's about rescuing lost souls, and this leads me to bring it to the viewer and reach out toward everyone's conscience. However, I try to save life experiences that we should not let go by. "Through painting, one can express many nice things in life. If we are in a good mood, this motivates us toward many happy things and our best side comes out. But if suddenly we are sad, this will also appear in our colors, like red, which represents friction in our surroundings or some problem, or violet. Love, joy and a desire to live… I communicate each feeling and attitude through color.

"Family and work go hand in hand. These both have been the greatest challenges in my life. To get ahead in my work is to help the family get ahead, and so on. Through 2005, I have shown my work and constantly take exhibits to all the little corners of Peru.

"Thank you, Novica friends, for giving me a chance."