Leoncio Villanueva
Bio
(Lima - Perú, 1947)
Graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Peru with a Gold Medal in 1971.
He lived in France from 1974-1987 before moving to Mexico where he worked until 1991.
He lived in Belgium from 2005 to 2015, the year in which he returned permanently to Peru where he currently lives and works.
He has held 35 solo shows in Paris, Rome, Bogotá, Hamburg, Mexico City, Miami, Washington DC, and Lima.
He participated in the Venice Biennales (1980 and 1984) and the São Paulo Biennale (1981).
He participated in ARCO Madrid (1980) and in Documenta Kassel.
His work is found in numerous collections and museums in America and Europe.
Statement
Like all cyclical change, in recent years I have gradually gone back to freer geometric forms; I am interested in having a good colour, very harmonious; in which different worlds can be seen coexisting in the same space, suggesting to the viewer realities within other realities. It is very important to me that the contrast between geometry and expressionism coexist, like a fighting game between reason and emotion. I could reduce the work to a square or a rectangle in front of a stain or scribble, or a very expressive graffiti, but it's not enough for me, it would seem very simple and easy, even though it would be enough to represent the conflict that has always existed in the history of the human being: thought and reaction, reason and violence. But it is not about illustrating a sentiment that could serve as the cover of a book on the subject. Art goes further, it is up to the viewer to read it, to find those hidden worlds.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
