Expressionist Painting, "Mollusks"

"I was born in Espinar, in Cuzco, on September 27, 1967. I lived there with my parents until I finished junior high school. They weren't artists, but they always supported me in all my decisions, and they guided me on the right path in life.

"After junior high, I moved to Arequipa, where I studied painting techniques in the regional School of Fine Arts from 1987 to 1988. When I realized this was what I wanted to do with my life, I made the somewhat radical decision to move to Lima for more intensive studies in painting. I studied at the Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes del Perú from 1989 until 1993.

"Little by little, I discovered my artistic origins. When I was around 15, and I'd draw landscapes by the hour, I was never bored. To the contrary, I found it so relaxing that I never wanted to stop.

"At an early age, I realized I liked to paint, but I didn't decide to dedicate myself to this art until I was 19 or 20, and was attending art school in Arequipa. I knew it could be very difficult to make a living and, at first, it was.

"One of my favorite hobbies is to visit places that open my mind to the artistic, that is, places that inspire me to paint them.

"My most immediate description of my work is abstraction in forms and colors, although, I don't work in a purely abstract style because I can also paint in a realistic manner for people who appreciate that kind of art. However, my youth was marked by realistic work, such as different kinds of vehicles. When I became interested in the fine arts, I painted landscapes and interesting kinds of transportation, and this transformed my sketchbooks. Thanks to the grace of intuition, I exteriorized the essence of the beautiful things around me in my work.

"The beauty around me still motivates me. And this is the most difficult task of the artist – to capture these ideas in a painting that permits the viewer to see these same ideas and thus create a relationship with the artist.

"I try to transmit the concept that there are beautiful things all around us that often we never even notice. We see them only when we look more closely."

Adolfo C'colque has exhibited his paintings throughout Peru, as well as in the U.S., Paraguay, Ecuador and El Salvador. He received the Gold Medal of Fine Arts, among other awards.