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Andean sculptor Peruko Ccopacatty has lived in the United States since 1981, but as he said in a recent interview about a retrospective exhibit of his work in
the United Nations Secretariat lobby last year, "I have never left Peru". Born in 1946 in an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca, he pays homage through his art to
his ancient Aymara ancestors, the pre-Incan indigenous peoples who inhabit the Altiplano regions of Bolivia and Peru, as well as northern Chile and Argentina. He sees the
exhibit, and his simultaneous acceptance in December 2003 of the UN Society of Writers and Artists Award of Excellence, as giving voice to the Aymara and, in a larger sense,
to the indigenous peoples past and present.
All my sculptures have a relationship to time and distance. It reminds one of my history, my spirit does not forget humanity’s ancient dimension.
As a sculptor, I have the same urgency to connect the past with the future. The question that I am still answering has to do with a process of investigation,
pre-historic stone, modern techniques and unification.
The work of Ccopacatty is exuberant, powerful, dynamic, tragic, structurally stable. The forms grow from his life, in the Andes of Peru, from his ancient
culture, the Aymara; from Lago Titicaca, the sacred lake of of the Inca and his island birthplace. That place and people are the point of departure in his
themes of family, work, struggle and triumph to the present day and future human drama and universal humanity.
Ccopacatty, is a reputed
artist in South America where he is referred to as the “master” for his arts and is recognized nationally in the United States, for dramatic and monumental works
in metal and the wall mural.
Ccopacatty attended the National School of Fine Arts in Lima, Peru. In 1975, he held awards as the most outstanding sculptor in metal and
the mural. He graduated in 1976 with the Medalla de Oro, the highest honor in sculpture. He continued his studies at the National School of Fine Arts, on a post-graduate
level. His sculptures are in private and public collections throughout the world. Since his arrival in the United States in 1981, he has exhibited extensively and installed
large-scale commissioned sculpture. The United Nations has featured his art shows. He has been commissioned to paint large, exterior wall murals world-wide. The artist spends
his time creating in both Peru and the United States.
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