Carlos Alburqueque
The Demon Painter

                                    

By Roxana Rojas-Luzon

Artist-Journalist TLAL member.

English Version Proofread by Judith Levine

Carlos Alburqueque

Where do the demonic figures of colors that Carlos Alburqueque put on his paintings come from? They come from a hidden place in the sierra of Piura-Peru, where he grew fearful of the dark. There, his family got light in the house from a kerosene burner at night, because there was no electricity. In that gloom his grandfather told him, tenebrous legends that at seven years of age he believed were true stories. These dark; shadowy, obscure stories now inspire his oils and acrylics.

For a long time he focused his artistic gift on illustration and graphics. He developed political cartoons and designed the pages of important Peruvian newspapers such as Correo, Ojo and El Comercio; and in the United States, performed similar tasks in El Tiempo Latino. Speaking of devil, one of his unforgettable cartoons, which appeared in El Comercio in Lima in September of 1992, was that of the capture of Sendero Luminoso terrorist leader Abimael Guzmán. Using Chinese inks, Alburqueque drew the criminal, in his prisoner-striped suit. He depicted Guzmán’s body as that of a lion, inside a cage surrounded by news reporters. Perhaps Abimael Guzmán was the first demon of the painter?

Releasing colors

It was only eight years ago when Alburqueque began painting on canvas. This is how his demons began to come out. Since then, he always has had one complete new painting and at least three unfinished ones. "I paint when I have time, after work when I get home. I also paint on weekends, on Friday nights until dawn. On Saturdays and Sundays, all day long, I can paint for up to 8 hours in a row, "says Alburqueque.



"My paintings are dreams or nightmares of intense colors, pure fantasy. First I dream, then I go to the canvas to paint. I cannot stand to see a painting in black and white. As everything I see seems gray to me: the cities, the people, the beaches, the mountains, I put a lot of color in my works. I feel that way since I started to paint." says the artist.

See more about his fantasy- reality work, in the following video:

Monsters and Humans

"My technique is simple, I do not follow any established model. When inspiration comes to me, I put on music, stand in front of the white frame, and begin to throw paint on the canvas. One, two, three brush strokes to one side, then up, down, and I am done. I sit at the front sharpening my gaze on the canvas. At first I do not see anything at all. I turn the canvas and suddenly, as if by magic, I see faces, animals, fish, monsters, human figures.” he says.



Of those supernatural beings in his paintings Alburqueque says he has heard different opinions. A teacher wrote him to say that she was using his human figures and technique to teach her art students in Italy. On another occasion he heard two women in front of his work saying that they did not like it. "My work generates different feelings, that's important, just as it is that I do what I love to do," he says.



Carlos Alburqueque has lived in Maryland for 22 years with his main fans: his wife and children. He works as a teacher of Spanish, and exhibits his works along with the rest of TLAL artists. Thank you for sharing your inspiration, amigo!