It is difficult to understand the life and work of the artisan Silvestre Ataucusi without considering –at least- the political context of Peru. He was born in January 1971 in the district of Vinchos. At the age of 12, together with his family, they migrated to a nearby area, Ayacucho. There, he meets his great teacher, Florentino Jiménez. The seed begins here.
At a young age, Silvestre met through his teacher, the inspiration for his art that years later, in 2012, made him worthy of the Joaquin Lopez Antay Award –father of the Ayacucho altarpiece- awarded by the Congress of the Republic of Peru, a distinction that recognizes the most outstanding figures in popular art.
“When I was very young I learned from my teacher, Don Florentino Jiménez. Thanks to him I am here in this country, for inheriting his art,” Silvestre recounts as he adjusts his red cotton shirt with yellow letters and remembers with a fixed gaze those years of childhood. “The first moment I arrived at my teacher’s workshop, I was struck and I fell in love with the colors, the figurines lying on the table. That, until today It is my strength, my nourishment and my reference.” He explains while observing one of the altarpieces produced in the workshop he held at the University of Chile.
In a joint effort by the Embassy of Peru in Chile, the Cultural Platform, the Andrés Bello Central Archive and the Vice-Rectorate for Outreach and Communications of the University of Chile, Silvestre He traveled more than 1,400 kilometers with his wife Nicolasa. His first stop on national soil was a visit to the exhibition “Demonstration of Altarpiece Art” where more than 20 pieces of his authorship were exhibited to the public. His second destination was the Casa de Bello.
“The Ayacucho altarpiece has already transcended borders and an example is that we are here in Chile”explains Silvestre as he smiles as he looks at the colorful pieces and wooden altarpieces that were created in the workshop, where more than 20 people were able to learn about this craft through his special presentation. With plaster pieces, paste to make silhouettes and wooden altarpieces, a variety of works of art were the essential product of the class.
Flowers, landscapes, fauna and even faces were part of the different imaginaries that were captured by the attendees in each altarpiece. It is to this richness, to this visual variety that Silvestre refers in the title of this interview: “Popular art is exquisite and that is why art sets us apart and makes us unique.” He explains with great enthusiasm that in this art there are no design patterns or predefined measurements. “That is a calculation by each artist according to his imagination of the moment. We do not make sketches, We recreate what you have in mind and for that we only need to visit or attend the patron saint festivities, to the towns where they still cultivate art or folklore and we take that to the workshop, we recreate it and it travels to the world to make it visible. That is the Ayacucho altarpiece,” he explains.
As one of the great masters of the Ayacucho altarpiece, Silvestre’s legacy is a living heritage. In the town of Ayacucho, Peru, is “The House of the Altarpiece” his home and “living museum,” as he defines it. In this space is where Ataucusi and his family, express the unique style that he learned after years of practice with his teacher. “After learning from him, I thought of a project, I had to do another technique, another style that would characterize me,” this is how dozens of altarpieces decorate this Andean corner.
– What do you feel when you think about art?
– Art is very deep and when you commit to art, you see time differently and you want to experiment, discover, do. Art is a daily learning process, art is infinite. And that is what keeps us artists busy, but not like forced work, but rather like a hobby that you never get tired of.
– Your first altarpieces had a lot to do with the history of Peru at that time. How is history linked to this art?
– The artist, like every human being, lives his moment informed of what is happening in the world. The difference in this case is that the artist can express a unique and particular critique through his art. For example, we see that in the Ayacucho altarpieces there are different cultural spaces, stages of life, social, political or contingency moments, such as the time of the pandemic. We will always see reality captured in our art.
I am not the only one, but there are many artists who capture different expressions, not only in the Ayacucho altarpiece, but also in painting, in the carvings of busts, in different expressions you will find that testimony of the stages that the world has gone through and that, for example, today, we can remember through the art of cave painters, who show what ancient men, the primitives, did in the past.
– Why is it important to recognize the existence of popular art?
– I personally value it because art is the main pillar for culture, for advances in technology and science. If we do not leave a legacy, we run the risk of losing knowledge, it is like what happens with native languages that have been lost, it is difficult to rescue it, it can be done, but it will no longer have its own essence, identity.
I look to the future and dream that the art I cultivate will be known worldwide through the different cultivators of the Ayacucho altarpiece, because this way it will be easier to have an impact and make this art known to the world.
– What emotions arise when visiting Chile for the first time, on a trip that is precisely a spokesperson for this craft, for the Ayacucho altarpiece?
– I am very surprised that a country with its own culture like Chile, welcomes and adopts the art of a sister country. For me it has been a very special experience and I would gladly return to do this type of workshop again and again, to teach, to give this type of experience, in which the participants learn and then become multipliers of this art, of our popular culture, which we try to bring so that humanity learns and has that identity for the world.
– What special message would you like to send to our readers and the new generations?
First, love your home. Inside it are your customs, your origin, your father, your mother and your culture.