HÉCTOR ACEVEDO | A TRUE VOCATION

HÉCTOR ACEVEDO | A TRUE VOCATION

“In the composition of his work, the spaces appear fragmented and reach their fertile moment in the geometric direction of the light. In this new pictorial stage, the artist proposes a narrative tour of the work by directing the viewer’s gaze; the light becomes the path that then frames synthetically represented houses and human figures with suppressed mouths and seductively facing gazes. , from the front and side, on top of endless feminine necks modeled by lines that form curves”.
– Yessica Hernández, Historian and Art Curator

Héctor Acevedo (b. 1963, Lima) is an internationally awarded artist known for his unique artistic figurative art. In 1986, he was admitted to Peru’s Advanced Autonomous School of Fine Arts (Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes del Peru – ENSABAP) to study drawing and painting while continuing studies in civil engineering at the National University of Engineering (Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería – UNI).

“Both majors involved a particular set of aptitudes and helped shape different life perspectives for me as a future artist. Between the demands of my engineering studies and my vital commitment to art, during a complex decision, I decided to work in the field of plastic arts, where I found my true vocation and personal satisfaction. I have worked professionally as an artist since 1989, living and working in Madrid, Spain.”
-Héctor Acevedo
Acevedo’s work has been exhibited in countless solo and group exhibitions worldwide and gained tremendous success. Among the enormous number of solo shows are exhibitions at the Mestiza Gallery in Madrid, Spain; Galeria Apasionarte in Lima, Peru, “Langstaff Gallery” in Brussels, Belgium; and Amaranto Gallery in Lima, Peru.

Among the international awards, Héctor Acevedo was awarded the First Prize at the “V International Biennial of Argentina 2022” in Buenos Aires; in 2021, he was awarded the Fourth Prize in the “XIII Florence Biennale 2021.” Florence, Italy. He also received the First Prize in the “Ninth National Coca-Cola Painting Contest” at the Banco Wiese Sudameris Hall, Peru.
Through his over thirty years of continued work, development, and experience, Acevedo’s work can be found in private collections, and his works of art have been published internationally in art books and magazines.

Getting To Know: Héctor Acevedo

Art Market Magazine: Please share the background of your artistic journey. Did you grow up in a creative environment? What led you into the contemporary art field as a professional artist?

Héctor Acevedo: I did not grow up in a creative environment. At home, my family did not favor my decision to study art and drop my engineering studies. My father was an official in the Ministry of Agriculture, and my mother, a housewife with an entrepreneurial initiative; it took a while for them to understand that my decision was correct.
In the mid-eighties, Peru was going through its most significant economic and social crisis; terrorist violence was plaguing the country; at that time, I was studying civil engineering at the university, and by chance, walking through the streets of downtown Lima I reached a building that caught my attention because of its façade, once inside, I discovered a wonderful, mystical space, the classical sculptures in the corridors gave it an air of solemnity, but also, the students drawing in the passages, some sitting on the floor; They gave a touch of irreverence and freedom. It was like that that I decided to apply to the School of Fine Arts and study painting.

Art Market Magazine: What led you into the contemporary art field as a professional artist?

Héctor Acevedo: What led me to enter contemporary art and detach myself from the rigorous academy of the School of Fine Arts was the search for a language that could better convey my ideas and feelings; this language has been enriched over time by my life experience and the constant search for aesthetic enjoyment.

Art Market Magazine: Where your inspiration comes from? Would you say that your art is influenced by other artists or a specific art field?

Héctor Acevedo: My inspiration comes from different sources, from sensations of daily life, dreams, ancient mythology, ancestral rites, or the memories dormant in my memory that emerge due to some external stimulus.

Art Market Magazine: Would you say that your art is influenced by other artists or a specific art field?

Héctor Acevedo: I do not believe that my art is influenced by another artist or movement; however, many teachers have contributed to my professional training. The striking color of Botticelli and the quattrocento painters, the expressiveness and simplification of Picasso’s shapes, and some contributions from the surrealist movement.

Art Market Magazine: Where your inspiration comes from? Would you say that your art is influenced by other artists or a specific art field?

Héctor Acevedo: The technique that I use to carry out my work is a mixed technique (oil and acrylic) on canvas. I begin the work with random and free strokes with acrylic colors and charcoal; the first forms start to appear from those spots, then I enter a decoding process, making sense of things through the association of ideas, even having a pre-established idea, the work is always subject to changes and adjustments, I try to keep the work part of that initial spontaneity, the application of the superposition of layers of color chromatically enrich my work, the glazes give the color more extraordinary brilliance, which is very characteristic of my work.

Art Market Magazine: From your personal journey in the art field, what will be your advice to the young artist looking for a way of development?

Héctor Acevedo: Young artists are likely to be tempted to use new technology and artificial intelligence to speed up their development process, running the risk of dehumanizing art. I advise using these means with caution and, above all, taking care not to transgress ethical values.

Art Market Magazine: What’s the future hold? Any special exhibitions in the upcoming months?

Héctor Acevedo: I have scheduled an individual exhibition this year in Alicante (Spain) for September, as well as other collective exhibitions planned for 2023, and participate in the Florence Biennale.
Héctor Acevedo’s scheduled exhibitions in 2023:

■ From June 22 to July 16, 2023. My work will be featured at the Museum of Valdepeñas (Spain) in the group exhibition: “XVII Salón de Primavera.”

■ From August 26 to September 12,2023.
I will participate together with prominent European artists at the Sala Cannoniera in Rocca Paolina in Perugia (Italy) in the exhibition: “L’Arte Oltre i Confini.”

■ From October 14 to 22, 2023. I will exhibit my work at Italy’s XIV Florence Biennale – International Exhibition of Contemporary Art and Design.

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #81