Alejandro Alayza Mujica, a Peruvian painter who has taught generations of visual artists, marked 50 years as a teacher with an exhibition of his own work at Lima's Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), and used the occasion to call the country's professional association for artists an absurd idea.
In an interview with La República, Alayza said the exhibition, titled "Persistencia de la mirada" (Persistence of the Gaze), runs at the Sala Winternitz in PUCP's Facultad de Arte y Diseño until Saturday, September 5. Entry is free for PUCP students, while members of the public who want to attend must register in advance. The show is curated by Max Hernández Calvo.
Alayza said he asked for the Sala Winternitz space after PUCP named him professor emeritus last year, wanting to show students the work he had developed over the years. He said the show combines old and new pieces so students can see how his work has evolved, adding that although he has taught since 1973, he had never before put together an exhibition designed specifically for his students.
Painting as a formal structure
Asked what stands out most in his work, Alayza said it is less about subject matter than about form. He said his themes are simple, such as landscapes and still lifes, or as he put it, calm subjects, and that the quality of his work lies in the painting itself rather than in what it depicts.
He compared this to poetry, saying painting is a formal structure that becomes like poetry when it is done well, just as poems usually deal with ordinary themes that are made poetic through form rather than content.
On the tension between abstraction and figuration running through his work, Alayza said the figurative serves as the support on which he builds his paintings. He said his work is never fully abstract but always keeps a figurative reminiscence that he treats freely, sometimes staying close to reality and sometimes drifting from it without ever losing its reference. He said this gives him the freedom to work with the material itself, treating the subject only as a starting point before freeing himself in the act of painting.
State of Peruvian visual arts
Asked about the current state of Peruvian visual arts, Alayza said there are two levels to consider: training and teaching, and the individual artist's own path. He said Peru has three main art schools, each with its own tradition, Bellas Artes, PUCP and Corriente Alterna, and that they produce different kinds of artists. He said Peruvian painters generally have a lot of natural talent, since painting is a very basic act, and that while output rises and falls over time, he currently sees a great deal of work being produced.
Making a living from art
Asked what drives someone toward a profession that offers little financial stability, Alayza said artists in many places have to take on other work to get by. He said no one becomes an artist to achieve stability, but out of an inner conviction tied to creation rather than money or profit, which he said matters far more than success. He said the space for success is never guaranteed and fluctuates according to factors beyond an artist's control, and that a true artist works because something inside drives them to express themselves.
Criticism of Peru's artists' association
Asked about the Colegio Profesional de Artistas del Perú, a professional body created for visual artists in the country, Alayza said the idea was absurd and could not be regulated that way. He said colleges of this kind can be useful, but this one was set up in a completely absurd manner, calling it a law passed carelessly. He compared it to needing notarial permission and paperwork to fly a kite, arguing that art is an act of freedom. He said the association had been created by people who believe they can lay down doctrine about art without any real experience of it.
Painting is not dead, Alayza says
Alayza also addressed the argument, which he said he hears often in art circles, that painting no longer has anything to say. He rejected this, saying painting is a culture for most people, though not a mass culture, and that it is usually artists themselves who claim it has died. He said he believes the opposite is true and that painting is going through a good moment worldwide.
He said a painting is the result of the lived experience of the creative process, and that this process, carried out with sincerity and consistency, develops its own kind of perfection. He compared learning to paint to learning to ride a bicycle, saying a beginner falls at first, then learns to balance, and once balance is mastered the bicycle itself stops mattering next to what a person can do on it. He said painting works in a similar way, and that rather than being dead, it simply needs more work.
Still painting at 80
Alayza, who is now retired from formal teaching duties, said he still works constantly. He said he no longer keeps the same pace as before, since he is now 80 years old and tires more easily, but that he still gets up early each day and goes to his studio with enthusiasm.
