80 YEARS

Essay and Chronology:

EMILIO TARAZONA
Essay and Chronology
EMILIO TARAZONA

DELFÍN 80 YEARS
©Author-Publisher
Víctor Delfín Ramírez
Design and layout:
Carlos González
Photography:
José Casals
Ana María Ortíz
Baldomero Pestana
Casa Taller Delfín Archive
Print:
Forma e Imagen
Second edition, August 2008
Print Run:
2000 copies
ISBN: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Legally deposited with
Peru’s National Library
Translation:
Marita Thomsen
 A World of Metal and Forges
Sketch and tour of Víctor Delfín’s work.

Emilio Tarazona

Several aspects of Víctor Delfín’s (1927) visual

oeuvre reveal that his creative path and life journey
seem defined by a tenacious combative streak. This
friction is generated by not always being compatible
with or accommodating towards the world. At times
the artist withdraws or maintains a cautious distance.
At other times his convictions drive him to make the
world ―and the society that makes it up― material
to be molded by will and action, be it individual or
collective.

These movements ―withdrawal and action―

are not contradictory in his work. They imply an
equivalent reaction against adversity, with its share
of struggles and tests of personal convictions. Per-
haps it is reconciliation akin to that established by
his work early on, in tune with some of the global
trends of the 60’s, between avant-garde art and the
recognizable influence of Peruvian popular art,

7
 “Ten centuries of slow incessant
artistic recreation stretch out between
the medieval retablos and Víctor Delfín’s
retablos”

Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra

8 9
which at the time was still wrongly associated with
traditionalism of a substantially different character.
But also reconciliation between activities of great
social relevance that today appear difficult not to see
as complementary ― moving freely between esthetics
and politics, personal sphere and public space.
Currently his presence as an artist is still marked
by a measure of reticence, revealed by a personally
accepted distance from Lima’s most visible galleries,
which has lasted for a few decades now. During this
time, however, he has not ceased to produce. He
has created resonant monumental pieces installed
in plazas and parks and held major exhibitions in
cities abroad as well as in Peru’s provinces, including
Arequipa, Piura, Talara and Cuzco. Perhaps this is
a gesture of mutual indifference and the result of
a clash with the more refined taste of the capital
pervading the cultural scene that once welcomed
him. Nonetheless, this has not caused him to loose
interest in other issues inevitably linked to it, including
pressing current issues. Thus, his commitment to
creative liberty has lead him to tirelessly defend
democracy and human rights in the most difficult
and decisive moments of the crisis and collapse of
Peru’s most recent dictatorship.
10
This study aims to offer a brief overview of his
work in its widest sense, highlighting some prelimi-
nary thoughts that also enable us to understand the
different contexts and circumstances related to it.
Creativity as craft and passion
Delfín was the youngest in a poor family pro-
vided for by the father’s salary as a welder in Lobitos,
a fishing village turned oil enclave in the Province of
Paita, Department of Piura. As a boy Delfín would
watch his father, the blacksmith, who was in charge
of a workshop that repaired colossal ten-meter drill
bits used in the wells. “(…) I would always watch
how they put them in the fire to repair them… I was
obsessed”, he commented in an interview granted
in 19921.The first home, “that world of metal and
forges”, which the artist remembers as a mesmerizing
visual stimulus, is recognizable as an early experience
shaping his artistic calling. Moreover, it is clear that
this environment has even molded his preference for
certain conditions of work and production. From the
late 60´s through the 70’s, especially, his own work-
shop operated like a factory with several workmen
and operators working hard by his side.
1
MASCARENHAS, Magali. “Víctor Delfín. Artista. ‘Soy un hombre feliz, pero eso
no me impide ver la tragedia de la vida’”. In: Cosas, nº 18. Lima: December 21,
1992, pp. 12-13.
11
12 13
 This recollection also unveils the origin of
his penchant for monumental sculpture, metal and
fire. This points to a kind of restitution of matter
through art, breathing different life into it through
pieces, which have characterized him since the late
70’s, created from industrial machinery bought as
scrap metal at La Parada or Tacora Motors. Those
were also the years when he made statements that
seem characteristic of the ideals expressed by the
most pragmatic and technocratic Futurism, “(…)
machines are inherently beautiful in their func-
tionalism. Each contribution made by a machine has
a function, therefore they are breathtakingly beauti-
ful. There is nothing fairer than, for example, seeing
a mechanical shovel in action or every component
of a tractor quivering in unison”.2
Nevertheless, already from 1945 while he was
studying painting at the National School of Fine
Arts (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes - ENBA),
it became clear that he coupled this efficient per-

2
See: ORMEÑO, Lupe. “Los monstruos de Delfín. De Tacora Motor’s a las galerías
de arte”. In: Estampa (Expreso supplement). Lima: October 25, 1970. No wonder
then that, as reported by a journalist around that same time, some of his metal
pieces still carry visible marks identifying their origin (such as the John Deere trac-
tor company’s name on some of them). In another interview the artist adds, “(…)
they say machines are the enemy of man, but I suffer and feel bad if I don’t hear
my drills working.” See: MASSEY, Peggy “Good morning / Buenos días”. In: La
Prensa. Lima: October 29 1970. And, also: AGUIRRE NIETO, Marisa. “Víctor
Delfín virtuoso del hierro”. In: La Imagen (La Prensa suplement). Lima: November
1,1970, pp. 12-13.

14 15
ception of the craft with sensing his calling as an Construction Worker). This was a self-vindicating
overwhelming spiritual yearning; a life-force capable piece etching his own image intertwined with that
of overcoming and subduing any adversity threat- of a whole trade union, which, part-time, was as
ening its full realization. Thus, after alternating his much his own as the non-unionized community of
hours of study with as many hours spent as a con- painters. Almost immediately, through a regular se-
struction worker ―trying to support himself without lection process few would attempt, he took up the
neglecting his scholarship― Delfín decided, in his position available as Director of the Juliaca School
third year of training, to interrupt his studies and of Fine Arts in Puno. There he put his teaching
embark upon a journey to a place near a village idyl- experience from schools in Lima to the test. He
lically named Delicias (Delights) in the Tingo Maria also contributed to getting administrative proce-
jungle. This retreat, which is characteristic of bold dures underway at the Ministry of Education that
romanticism, leads him to give up school for a place enabled repairing and building class rooms, which
where making a living did not take up all the time at the time were not fit for educating painters. But
he would also spend long periods immersed in the
he yearned to dedicate to painting. A place where,
visual creation of the provinces through formal
against the painter’s own enthusiastic expressions, a
training, discovering ―in clear contrast with such
journalist would in time say one was ‘buried alive’ in
training― the powerful creative courage of the re-
a ‘green inferno’.3
gion’s folk artists and popular art. This immersion
accentuated the influence Alejandro González Tru-
A few years later, Delfín returned to the ENBA
jillo had on him during his training at the ENBA.
where he completed his studies in 1958. The
This teacher chose the well-known pseudonym
following year he was awarded the Ignacio Merino
Apurimak as a tribute to his home region thus re-
Prize for Painting for a painting entitled: Homenaje
vealing in his life and work his proud Andean and
al Obrero de Construcción Civil (Homage to the indigenous side4.
3
J. B. A. “La extraña historia del pintor de la selva”. In: Caretas, year III, nº 47. Lima:
August 1953, p. 29. He traveled there with his young family, but also with fellow 4
The period during which the artist is studying at the ENBA ―even with the ab-
artists from the schools, most of whom returned quite quickly. Only the sculptor Al- sences― is a crucial period in the history of Peruvian plastic arts. The second half
berto Guzmán would stay for a while and, even then, in the town of Tingo María. of the 40’s to 1958 sees Delfín studying at the ENBA at the same time as abstract

16 17
 “Víctor Delfín enriches our universe
with a flock of dream birds imagined by
a metal poet”

Claude Couffon

18 19
 This was the starting point for the artist’s affinity
with Peru’s southern Andean region. He visited
and drew inspiration from every fair and regional
exhibition he came across. Shortly after, upon taking
up leadership of the regional ENBA in Ayacucho, a
similar bond was consolidated with this region.

Towards 1962 Delfín moved to Santiago in

Chile where he organized a Peruvian popular art
exhibition at the then recently opened Providen-
cia Cultural Institute. He stayed on there for a time
teaching at the Providencia and Las Condes cultural
institutes. Distance did not, however, lessen his in-
terest in his country’s art forms. During this period
he even visited folk artist fairs in Huancayo together
with Víctor Cravacho. The latter, a critic, commented
on a Delfín exhibition at the Libertad gallery after
this trip and in Delfín’s cubist influenced canvases
―which insinuate affinities in form with some of his

painting is consolidated in Peru. This process is lead by the Agrupación Espacio

and painters such as Enrique Kleiser and Fernando de Szyszlo. These are also the
years of Manuel A. Odría’s dictatorship (1948-1956). Delfín’s teachers included the
sculptor Joaquín Roca Rey and the painters Carlos Quizpez Asín and Alberto Dávi-
la and even Ricardo Grau in the first years. None of them, however, left as much
of a mark on the artist as Apurimak, which Delfín himself recognizes in writing
in 1983, “You, sir, belong to that special category of artists who appear from time
to time expressly to awaken other artist, to guide them, encourage them, confront
them … (…) You, Apu-Rimak, I also see as a spokesperson for the past, as a guard-
ian of that inextinguishable flame, which is Indigenous America’s fabulous legacy.”
Reprinted in: [n/a]. “Murió ‘Apurimak’ artista y maestro”. In El Comercio. Lima:
August 31, 1985, p. C8.

20 21
teachers, such as A. Dávila and C. Quizpez Asín― he
glimpsed motifs and referents that often draw upon
Peru’s vernacular themes5. This trend quickly grew
stronger. The school phase and even painting were
relegated giving way to more deeply motivated work
and this direction allowed him to take his work to
new heights in the ensuing years.
A style is consolidated
In 1965 Delfín returns to Lima after receiving an
employment offer in a new gallery opening in Peru’s
capital, which would later become known as Cultura
y Libertad. In spite of the differences in opinion that
quickly lead him to sever his ties with the gallery, he
decided to stay in Lima. In October the following
year his first solo exhibition took place at Art Center
in Miraflores. Delfín displayed his early development
and accomplishment gradually crystallizing into a
personal style marrying the academic and popular
world. Under the name “Retablos” the artist
showcased objects shaped as hinged doors from
molten lead, ceramics and wood. Carlos Rodríguez
Saavedra would later highlight that retablos are a
traditional European legacy, which Andean artists
5
CARVACHO, Víctor. “El pintor Delfín en la sierra”. In: La Nación [Santiago de
Chile]: May 9, 1965.
22
made their own in colonial times. Delfín dislocated
retablo themes, often reduced the prominence
of religious figures and motifs, he also included
abstract forms as well as a demand for contemporary
relevance. According to the critic subject matter of
Delfín’s retablos was, hence, the “exact opposite of
that of folk retablos. As characteristic contemporary
pieces they aspire to disclose the artist’s inner vision,
not the appearance of things, to surprise the core of
being, not the world’s surface”.6
The Art Center exhibition opened in the midst
of the preparations for a grand visual arts event, the
American Festival of Painting, organized by the Con-
temporary Art Institute (IAC) and Jueves Cultural
Association at the venue of the International Fair of
the Pacific. This contest promoted the prevalence of
the modernist ideals of Latin American plastic arts,
which still viewed the emerging international pop art
trends with suspicion. In that precise, heated mo-
ment Víctor Delfín came together with eight other
artists ― mostly younger artist. They felt the event
had a conservative slant and, moreover, that there
were certain irregularities in how it was organized.
6
RODRIGEZ SAAVEDRA, Carlos. “Los retablos de Víctor Delfín” In: Fanal, vol.
XXII, nº 84. Lima: IPC, 1967, pp. 7-11.
23
 “Delfín harvests the spoils of our in-
cipient mechanization turning scrap into
amazing sculptures. Metal that has ceased
to contribute to physical life is reborn to
spiritual life, transfigured by art”

Alfonso La Torre

24 25
They reacted with an explosive manifesto against it
and staged a landmark parallel exhibition of their
own work, which to this day is considered a key mo-
ment of consolidation for Peru’s 70’s avant-garde7.

Thus, the group Arte Nuevo was born. It orga-

nized an exhibition in what a few weeks earlier had
been nothing but a dilapidated house on Jr. Cara-
baya in Lima’s old city centre. They transformed,
remodeled and fashioned it into a gallery giving it
the evocative name El Ombligo de Adán (Adam’s
Navel)8. Delfín created an enormous PVC pipe mural
there installed directly onto the wall and on opening

7
This was a two-page document written as an open letter and distributed on the
streets by the Arte Nuevo group. It diagnosed internal irregularities and not only
did it question the legitimacy and transparency of the Festival, it exhorted all art-
ists to boycott it. Furthermore it called for future festivals to be organized by a
different entity capable of showing artists and art more consideration, “(…) IAC,
which acts as a promoter of avant-garde art, has generated a climate of mistrust
in the local art world, because of its lack of serious commitment towards young
local artists (…), in our eyes it is therefore the antithesis of what an Institute of
Contemporary Art ought to be, (…)”. These are the unyielding claims made in the
document, which points to the fact that Peruvian artists only received invitations
to the Festival a week before the deadline for presenting the documents required
to participate. Only one artist, Fernando de Szyszlo, was the exception to the
rule, but he, as a founding member, had close ties to the institution. See: ARTE
NUEVO. Con respecto al Festival Americano de Pintura y el Instituto de Arte
Contemporáneo. Lima: Mimeo, 2 pp. (Manifiesto). For further information on
the Arte Nuevo group refer to the following study that is to be published shortly:
LÓPEZ Miguel and Emilio Tarazona “Arte Nuevo y la vanguardia. A propósito
de una revuelta en las artes visuales de los años Sesenta”. Lima: 2006, ms (unpub-
lished).
8
In addition to Víctor Delfín, the group was made up of: Luis Arias Vera, Teresa
Burga, Jaime Dávila, Gloria Gómez-Sánchez, Emilio Hernández Saavedra, José
Tang, Armando Varela and Luis Zevallos Hetzel.

26 27
 “Delfín’s creations are an explosion
of metallic fire fanned by primitive air
flowing like a life-force between sculptural
volumes and planes”

Oswaldo Guayasamín

28 29
night an unusual happening was staged by the actor
and playwright Felipe Buendía9.
Later the exhibition was partially transferred to
the Lima Art Museum and both the group’s successive
exhibitions would become a referent. They were later
pinpointed by the Peruvian critic Juan Acha as having
ushered in avant-garde in Peru as well as the, “emer-
gence of a new mentality” in Peruvian plastic arts10.
From his workshop and home, then located in
the Bajada de los Baños in Barranco, Víctor Delfín
in those years embarked upon an ongoing parallel
exploration of new materials. He designed and
assembled pieces in polychrome acrylics, pipes and
aluminum angles ―generally used to produce light
displays― clearly echoing the esthetics of the geo-
metric and minimalist currents of the time. Yet he
did all this without interrupting his personal rework-
ing of contemporary folk and popular art.
One of the main distinguishing features of
Delfín’s work is that in the context of experimen-
9
See: TARAZONA, Emilio. Accionismo en el Perú. Rastros y fuentes para una pri-
mera cronología. Lima: ICPNA, 2006. p. [16]-17.
10
See its annual assessment published as: “Las artes visuales” In: El Comercio. Lima:
January 1, 1967.
30
talism, which at the time was mainly focused on art
styles, systems and institutions and would lead to
a crisis of representation and an ensuing widening
of the material possibilities of production in plastic
arts, Delfín also took it upon himself to ensure the
continuity of a creative current socially subordinated
to the current proclaimed as ‘art’ by modernist ide-
alism11. Both Peruvian folk and popular art were at
the time benefiting from significant dissemination
through government bodies, such as the “Cultura y
Pueblo” magazine promoted by José María Arguedas
as director of the Casa de la Cultura. Nevertheless,
even during the 60’s and much of the 70’s a tacit
disassociation persisted, which relegated the latter
almost exclusively to the scope of social sciences
―especially Anthropology― rather than concrete
esthetic approaches that were reserved for the domi-
nant plastic arts.
Only towards the mid 70’s did the issue come
to the fore on the cultural scene as an impasse. Some
artists and intellectuals associated with the Peruvian
Association of Plastic Artists (ASPAP) viewed it as
11
Mirko Lauer highlights a series of argumentative strategies that have established
supposedly universal criteria of value to assert its domination over the plastic arts
of contemporary pre-capitalism, usually known as popular art or folk art. See:
LAUER, Mirko. Crítica de la artesanía. Lima: Desco, 1982.
31
inappropriate to equate ‘fine art’ and ‘popular art’.12
Víctor Delfín’s work is an integral part of the very
context in which this dispute arises. Already in 1967
the local art scene found it convenient to divide
his production into two different arbitrary and in-
consequential categories13. The artist, however, has
insisted on not taking this distinction onboard and
trivializes the difference made by others, “(…) folk
art, sculpture whatever you call it, it’s quality work”
―he said in 1970― “I make artifacts and I don’t care

12
The event that years later would spark a fierce debate about what definitely was
a singular problematic area was the award of the National Prize for Culture to
Joaquín López Antay in late 1975. He received the award for his life’s work pro-
ducing imaginative retablos. This lead to public controversy about the similarities
and differences between so-called popular art and so-called universal art. This
dominant segment of plastic arts has been labeled in many ways, including fine
art or academic art, which are as emblematic and imprecise as the ones used as
converse labels, namely, popular art or folk art. This implies the possibility of re-
placing the former labels with a new category: unpopular art. Such categorization
would not only highlight the stubborn insistence on differentiating this area of
production from its subordinate relatives, but also the plain and simple difference
in the level of interest they generate from a strictly statistical, or demographic,
perspective.
13
This even leads to his work being simultaneously exhibited at two major galler-
ies La Artística and Art Center. Only a single printed document links these two
exhibitions, in a manner that speaks volumes of how the art scene, at the time,
mechanically disassociated part of his production. It found it, “(…) convenient to
exhibit [his work] separately “(…) because it is one artist’s two different ways of
expressing himself: “One belonging to a folk art type recreation related to popular
art and, the other, to seeking the avant-garde”. In: Delfín. Lima: Galería La Artística
― Art Center, November 1967. (Exhibition catalogue). However this dichotomy
is erased by a review of the pieces showcased at each gallery where ‘retablos’ or
‘reliefs’ and even applied arts or utilitarian objects, are included without distinction.
Symptomatically, this exhibition was held only a month before the artist was award-
ed First Prize in the category of Contemporary Folk Art at the Folk Art Biennial,
organized by the Folk Artists’ Association and held at the Lima Art Museum. The
award for Traditional Folk Art went to López Antay at the same Biennial. See: [n/a]
“Bienal de artesanía. V. Delfín, verdadero maestro de la artesanía contemporánea”.
In: La Prensa. Lima: August 30, 1967, p. 18.

32 33
34 35
36 37
whether people class them as folk art, sculpture or
avant-garde pieces”.14 He underlined it again in 1971,
“I don’t understand the difference between art and
folk art. (…) I believe it to be of no consequence, I
don’t care whether I am categorized as a folk artist,
as a sculptor, as a painter”.15
That very year he consolidated his presence on
the local scene with exhibitions such as “Bestiary”,
at the IAC, and “Signs of the Zodiac”, at the Lima
Art Museum in July and December 1968, respec-
tively. His work, considered by the local art world
as polar, earns him recognition from all sides, none-
theless, albeit in different contexts. The same issue
of the magazine “Informe”, from September 1971,
reports on Delfín’s outstanding parallel participation
at the III Folk Art Biennial, held at the Lima Art Mu-
seum, and the XI Sao Paulo Biennial, where he was
invited to participate and in a solo room presented
fourteen large-scale sculptures with bird motifs in
polychrome metal.16
14
See: AGUIRRE NIETO, Marisa. “Víctor Delfín virtuoso del hierro”. In: La Ima-
gen (La Prensa supplement). Lima: November 1, 1970, pp. [1], 12-13.
15
MÁLAGA, Oscar. “Víctor Delfín en la Bienal de Sao Paulo”. In: Informe, year 4,
nº 57. Lima: September 30, 1971, p. 64. (Interview).
16
See: “La cultura en la quincena. Bienal de artesanía”. In: Informe, año 4, nº 57.
Lima: September 30, 1971, pp. [62]-63. It should be mentioned that the piece pre-
sented by Delfín at the III Folk Art Biennial was a chess set, once again indicating
38
Thus, Delfín was at the heart of a debate before
it even arose. With his personal approach he nipped
a potential chasm between these two forms of plas-
tic arts production in the bud. Following Lauer’s later
argument, these distinctions do not seem to empha-
size material aspects of the objects, the process of
creating them or the catalog of subject matters and
how these are approached, thereby relegating the dis-
cussion about the domain in which these differences
come into sharp focus; the conditions in which these
pieces circulate and their forms of social existence.17
The continental flight
Víctor Delfín’s view on production, balking at
the canonic image of artists as secluded from the
workings of society, is the driving force behind
his notable expansive and monumental spirit. This
perspective of the workshop as a business and
the artist as a worker unveils the foundations of
decade-long work discipline. Ever since his initial
his ‘utilitarian’ bias. Furthermore, he does not consider the pieces sent to the IX Sao
Paulo Biennial merely contemplative. In an interview with Oscar Málaga he men-
tions that he intends to relate these pieces to urban space in some public park,“(…)
I want sculptures to work, I want them to participate one way or the other, especial-
ly in the world of children. It moves me to see a child climb one of my sculptures”.
MÁLAGA, Oscar. “Víctor Delfín en la Bienal de Sao Paulo”. MÁLAGA, Oscar.
“Víctor Delfín en la Bienal de Sao Paulo”. In: Informe, year 4, nº 57 (Op. Cit.). The
highlight in bold type is not part of the original.
17
LAUER, Mirko. Crítica de la artesanía. Op. Cit. p. 25.
39
breakthrough as an artist, this discipline has enabled
him to direct large exhibitions with the support of
both international bodies and institutions, such as
Adela Investment, and private business.

Labor and added value constitute an inexhaustible

resource with which he takes it upon himself to
transform raw materials that have fallen into disuse in
the distinctly sculptural style he has developed since
the late 60’s. His collections “Bestiary”, “Signs of the
Zodiac”, “Cabezas clavas” (Stone heads), but also his
stoves, lamps, railings, furniture and buckles ―which
also make him a pioneer in artist design in applied arts
in Peru― are lasting objects created from what was
thought to be perishable. He clearly aims to save metal
from scrap and transform it into new objects, “(…)
wrested from rust and mould to become symbols of
the constant rebirth of the ages”, in Lauer’s words.18
This transformation gradually displaced constructing
and assembling pieces in acrylics and aluminum, as
demand for them in publicity makes them expensive.
People were amazed at how efficiently he restituted
discarded objects to art and esthetics, even if it was
an esthetic of a different nature, “Víctor Delfín works

18
LAUER, Mirko. “Los signos del zodiaco”. In: Oiga nº 303. Lima: December 13,
1968, p. 35.

40 41
42 43
with crude elements, with loose pieces of iron for
mechanical use dumped in illegal markets. They seem
to be of an endless variety and without deforming them
he welds them and gives them unexpected meaning
in his ‘sculptures’, because that is what we must call
them”, a reporter would write while highlighting the
artist’s commitment to restoring something that has
lost its function to a different function.19

In this same spirit of restoring what has been

abandoned, in 1970 he undertakes the reconstruction
of an old and ruined turn-of-the-century Tudor style
house threatened with demolition. He imagined
that, once he had restored and fitted it out, it would
become a space that is always open to culture. In
October the artist’s Casa-Taller (Home-Workshop)
was inaugurated and became meeting point, gallery
and lodgings for other artists. With this Víctor Delfín
assumed, without respite, the task of promoting art
in all its forms20.

19
C.L. “Crítica de arte. ‘El ‘zodiaco’ de Delfín”. In: El Comercio. Lima: December, 18
1968.
20
The purchase and restoration he undertook received significant support from some
companies that joined the artist during the months of hard personal work and sacrifice.
Regarding the proposal of an open dynamic space announced by Delfín, a journalist
commented at the time, “Precisely because bending iron, which he usually does, takes
knowing how to bend selfishness. Delfín’s house in Barranco is living testimony to his
openness to others and to the old ideals instilled when hard times, poverty and troubles
ate into the flesh and soul.” See: [n/a] “Hospedaje Taller y Galería para artistas ofrece
nueva casa de Delfín en Barranco” In: La Prensa. Lima: October 16, 1970.

44 45
46 47
 From then on this would be a place not only
for exhibitions and recitals, but also conferences
and cultural encounters, there were even projects to
delegate the creation of a library, having concerts,
administrating a small-scale film club and a designated
area for theater. Even though many of these initiatives
faded in time, Delfín himself would be the backbone
of organizing events there. In December 1970, two
months after its opening, he organized a Contemporary
Folk Art Fair together with the Barranco local council.
He received the artists in his home and offered them
a workshop where they could produce the pieces they
would present in the district plaza.21
Around this time Delfín’s work went on a series of
exhibitions abroad. An ’expansive period’ commenced
with two virtually simultaneous exhibitions in the
Arte de Ayer y Hoy gallery in Caracas and the Miami
Museum of Modern Art for which he received
great critical acclaim. He showcased a considerable
number of medium and large-scale sculptures in
pieces of metal newly assembled from scrap and
remains of metallurgical pieces during 197022. With
21
See: “Feria artesanal hay en Barranco”. In: Ojo. Lima: December 9, 1970.
22
Fifteen sculptures in Caracas and seventeen in Miami ―even if other sources state
that they were twenty-two― were the starting point for a much larger series of works,
which Delfín would exhibit in the following years in different Latin American cities.
48
them Delfín consolidated his interest in representing
winged bipeds in a series he would later call “Aves de
América” (Birds of América), succinctly linking the
work, its origin and destiny
One of Delfín’s great qualities is that he aims to
make what others presume to be improbable possible
and even feasible. Fitting but incredible circumstances
even lead the artist to tour vast expanses of Latin
America by air with this specific series ― solid, massive
pieces together weighing several tons. Birds that
seemed condemned to wings clipped by weight took
off in aircraft, including ones belonging to Braniff
International, which flew them to Quito, Guayaquil,
Bogota, Panama City, San Jose in Costa Rica, Santo
Domingo, Barranquilla, Caracas and Havana. Several of
them were left behind in the countries visited so the artist
had to produce new ones to fill subsequent scheduled
exhibitions. Observers, such as Bernard Davis, of the
Miami Museum of Modern Art, commented that the
Delfín must have had detailed knowledge of zoology,
because his pieces were so full of vitality.23 The serie’s
seems to focus on a repertoire of specific species of
birds common to the Amerindian peoples. Furthermore,
23
In: Víctor Delfín. Miami Museum of Modern Art. Miami: December 1970 ― Janu-
ary 1971 (Presentation of the catalogue).
49
 “I make artifacts
and I don’t care whether
people class them as folk
art, sculpture or avant-
garde pieces”

Víctor Delfín

50 51
52 53
they transmit certain coat-of-arms-like characteristics,
which have perhaps grown rare in humankind.

The artist displays a broader repertoire then the

already enormous variety of birds on the continent,
in Claude Couffron’s lyrical words, he shows us, “(…)
imaginary birds, the ones that fly in his head and that
his hands model, the ones we will only find in his
oeuvre; unnamed birds with sharp claws for new
mythologies, aggressive or peaceful winged forms,
unusual plumage for the eye’s dream journey”24. Even
though one may glimpse the presence of a quetzal, a
humming bird or a hoatzin, a cardinal, a burrowing
owl or a turkey buzzard.

Back in Lima after this Latin American tour,

towards the late 70’s, Delfín put up more exhibitions
abroad than in Peru’s capital. Towards the 80’s he
returned to sculpture creating pieces in cement, in-
cluding the work known as Dove of Peace placed in
front of the Apostolic Nunciature on Av. Salaverry
in 1985. He also resumed his thus far relegated voca-
tion as a painter and displayed some paintings in June
1986 at the Editorial Concepts gallery in Miami.

24
COUFFON, Claude. “Sobre las aves de Víctor Delfín” In: Aves de América. Lima:
Casa Taller Delfín, December 19, 1975 ― January 5, 1976 (Catalogue).

54 55
 In 1992 he designed the public monument today
widely known as The Kiss. The sculpture ―originally
entitled Los amantes en el acantilado (Lovers by the
cliff)― takes center stage, as of 1993, in the so-called
Love Park, on the Miralfores district’s seafront. With
the sea as its backdrop and forever on the edge of the
abyss, like love, the park was conceived as a place of
freedom for lovers no longer willing to wander dark
desolate streets, out of shyness or modesty. It was
conceived as a celebration of love, a place encouraging
encounters, affection and the expressions of men and
women oblivious to restraint. “There will be flowers
from Ayacucho so it has a real “aire cholo”. Let
everything come together poetry, sculpture, nature
and landscape! Bring lovers out of hiding! Let them
no longer be persecuted as criminals by the police
asking to see their ID’s! It is absurd, it is denying a
force of nature!” enthused the artist about his project,
months before it was put up25.
Already between July and September 1970,
with the intention of criticizing this persecution or
censorship by public authorities, the artist Rafael
Hastings had undertaken to distribute flyers and
25
MASCARENHAS, Magali. “Víctor Delfín. Artista. ‘Soy un hombre feliz, pero eso
no me impide ver la tragedia de la vida’”. In: Cosas, nº 18. Lima: December 21,
1992, pp. 12-13.
56
leave messages to lovers he met by chance near the
Parque Neptuno, Parque de la Exposición, Parque de
la Reserva and Campo de Marte openly supporting
their acts. Under the title Todo el amor, this anarchic
stageless ‘staging’ involved the couples themselves
as elements of a fleeting work of art in which they
were both the main characters and “(…) the silent
representatives of a political, economic and social
situation, (…),” according to the artist’s own state-
ments.26
In its fifteen years of existence Delfín’s sculpture
has brought together people from different social
backgrounds. It is the backdrop for courtship and
mass weddings, a must-visit for lovers on a stroll
posing for pictures or a video, which they will keep in
their family albums after the wedding. It also draws
throngs of lovers from all areas of Lima celebrating
Valentine’s Day each February 14. It has become
a popular landmark for tourists and limeños, even
though it is not so well-loved by many of the people in
the district and its surroundings. Like a strange island
these characteristics have made it one of the least
miraflorino spaces of all of high-brow Miraflores.
26
HASTINGS, Rafael. “Todo el amor” In: Oiga. Lima: (around June-July), 1970, p.
31-32.
57
58 59
It is an ostentatious urban enclave, an antidote
countering discrimination and fostering encounters,
tolerance and diversity in a district where these have
not always characterized some of the establishments
and night clubs.27

Art hand in hand with freedom

The proximities and frictions generated by
monuments such as Los amantes en el acantilado are
accentuated when the artist becomes involved with
more visible domains of decision-making and social
control ― or at least domains that are not as obscure as
public administration of areas assigned for intimacy. In
early 1995 Víctor Delfín began regularly and tenaciously
criticizing and protesting against tensions caused by
the government as well as violations committed by it.
In March that year he organized a Caucus for Peace
bringing together Peruvian and Ecuadorian artists
and writers. It was held on the border between both
countries, before the Cenepa War broke out. Months

27
Encounters, tolerance and diversity in the widest of senses. The Love Park is one
of the most visited places each Valentine’s day and over the last years the Peruvi-
an TLGB Network (transvestites, lesbians, gays and bisexuals) stages an act there
called Love doesn’t discriminate, which consists in several of its members going
there with their partners to put up placards and kiss in public next to the het-
erosexual couples there. On several occasions they have received warnings from
council officials for this action. Furthermore, a recent example of discrimina-
tion, in this case racial, by some establishments in Miraflores involved the discos
Phuket and Mama Batata, which were fined by Indecopi due to this charge in June
2007.

60 61
later, in June that year, he wholeheartedly joined the
outcry and protests of citizens rejecting the so-called
amnesty law, which amounted to an impunity law. It
freed from any responsibility and punishment tried
and jailed members of the paramilitary command and
death squad denominated the Colina Group, which
had murdered innocent people in the Barrios Altos
and La Cantuta cases.
It was not until 1997 that there was a clear
break between Peru’s citizens and its government,
manifested in protests and marches against the re-
moval of the Constitutional Court magistrates, who
were blocking the application of a law that enabled
the then president to run for a third consecutive
term in office. From then on Delfín’s Casa-Taller
becomes a hub for coordination and strategic meet-
ings between groups of university students as well as
human rights organizations. It was where they drew
up many initiatives against Alberto Fujimori’s au-
thoritarian government. It was also where the group
La Resistencia was formed. Delfín was part of this
group, which opposed the regime peacefully, but
constantly and vigorously, with symbolic acts as well
as by convening the voice of civil protest and taking
it the streets.
62
Peru faced social and political upheaval in the
late 90’s and the first years of the new millennium. In
March 2000 Delfín addressed an open letter to the
young Peruvians who also rejected the government
in marches, he encouraged them, but also warned
them of a looming struggle against the dictator re-
taking power. In the letter the artist looks back at the
violence afflicting Peru over the previous decades,
“These have been terrible times for all Peruvians:
armed strikes, car bombs, blackouts, Fujimori’s self-
coup, detentions, disappearances, universities seized
by the forces in uniform. In this context you, the
youth of today, grew up, exposed, in a country
governed by the law of the jungle”. 28
Considering that the artist in his earliest years
of training penetrated the Peruvian jungle like a
settler in inhospitable lands, this last phrase is sur-
prising. For Delfín, nature, even when ferocious or
wild ―which he exalted, for example, with the ani-
mals in his Bestiary from 1968― is a cordial world, a
model of admirable strength and integrity. Whereas
past governments had, in contrast, turned, before
his very eyes, into a grotesque ridiculous fauna of
28
DELFÍN, Víctor. “Carta abierta a la juventud peruana. El fin del fujimontecinis-
mo”. In: La República. Lima: March 23, 2000, p. 5.
63
64 65
 beings who, supposedly, were at the helm of their
country. A fauna made up of, “(…) bare-faced social
climbers, tricksters, adventurers, criminals, tor-
turers, murderers, pettifogging lawyers, crafty devils
and petty thieves (…)”.29 This catalogue of corrup-
tion ―of puppets and circus swine― would inhabit
a new series of graphic prints and paintings, which
he ―from an entirely opposite standpoint and value
judgment― called Political Bestiary and circulated
on posters and flyers in manifestations against the
regime.30

The corollary to this national saga was, what

Gustavo Buntinx would call, “the cultural overthrow
of the dictatorship”, highlighting an act carried out by

29
DELFIN, Víctor “Carta abierta a la juventud peruana. El fin del fujimontecinismo”
(idem).
30
In the political Bestiary Víctor Delfín uses members of the then fujimorista gov-
ernment, who could have learnt a great deal from animals, as referents. In contrast
with his opinion regarding wild mammals, which for him stand out because of their
nobility, libido and energy, or birds in which he recognizes qualities virtually lost in
humans. Following this train of thought, it is interesting to highlight the images he
uses in the open letter to describe exceptional cases of people who, in those diffi-
cult times, demonstrated extraordinary qualities; such as the, “(…) fatally wounded
bird Leonor La Rosa” (Ibidem). Leonor La Rosa, former Army Intelligence Service
agent, was kidnapped and tortured in 1997 by other officers of the same, by then
discredited, institution dedicated to harassing the opposition. She was suspected of
having filtered information about human rights violations perpetrated by the Colina
Group to the press. The series also borrowed visual referents from Nueva corónica
y buen gobierno (1915-16) by Guamán Poma de Ayala. A chronicle testament to
the atrocities and excesses of the Spanish conquest and the yoke imposed on the
indigenous population. See: “La corte del chino. Toda la fauna oficialista, al estilo
de Guamán Poma pero con el lápiz de Víctor Delfín”. In: Caretas, year XLIX, nº
1617. Lima: May 4, 2000, p. 47.

66 67
the Civil Society Collective.31 A quick glance at this de-
cisive year, 2000, left people incredulous: Fujimori was
re-elected, the most impressive and large-scale mobili-
zation in Peru’s republican history was unleashed, the
mechanism used by his government to dismantle de-
mocracy in Peru’s powers of state was disclosed and
he fled Peru and resign as president from a shameless
exile in Japan. After this, a lengthy extradition process
began. Its success seemed imminent, but still under-
way, while these lines were written. The artist himself
was, along with other citizens, wounded by the impact
of a tear bomb during a milestone demonstration on
Peru’s National Day, July 28, the Marcha de los Cuatro
Suyos (Four Corners March).32

An emblematic canvas painted by Delfín during

those terrible and ominous years captures the spirit of

31
“Toppling a dictator is usually not the result of a single masterstroke, but rather the
slow but determined construction of democratic consensus in each sector of civil
society. (…) A disruption of public awareness, which is also the awakening of the
most intimate individual conscience”. BUNTINX, Gustavo. “Lava la bandera: El
Colectivo Sociedad Civil y el derrocamiento cultural de la dictadura de Fujimori y
Montesinos” In: Quehacer nº 158. Lima: Desco, March 2006.
32
This demonstration was planned as a peaceful march. It was, however, rudely op-
pressed by the dictatorship, which even went so far as to detonate several public
buildings in an attempt to accuse those participating in the demonstration of ter-
rorism. The blasts left six murdered National Bank security guards. The site where
the bank used to be located was left in ruins up until a few years ago, and then a
stele with a piece by Delfín was put up in memory of the victims of that painful day.
That day a tear bomb was launched directly at Delfín’s face, it hit his right ear and
caused serious injuries. See: DELFÍN, Víctor. “EL criminal apuntó a mi cabeza…
vi que la cápsula venía hacia mi rostro”. In: Liberación. Lima: August 1, 2000, pp.
14-15. (Testimony).

68 69
struggle felt in the streets. In that painting a group of
people represent civil society wielding sticks against
dark soldiers of the Assault Unit. The artist has painted
himself into the crowd, like Delacroix, who ―in the
seminal painting that signaled a removal from past
referents and the pressing irruption of the present
in the history of modern art― includes himself next
to an emancipating female archetype making her way
through the fallen. In unrelenting irony the artist
places, in the background of the painting, a poster
from 1997 that reads, “Lima Plaza Mayor de la Cultura
Iberoamericana” (Lima Main Square of Iberoamerican
Culture), which ―in the midst of the commotion―
seems like an ironic celebration of a barbaric state,
but also seeks to generate friction with a structure of
cultural events taking place on the margin of urgent
initiatives to denounce this barbaric state.33

This was a milestone in Víctor Delfín’s com-

prehensive approach to his oeuvre, which he has
never subedited to the visual aspect. For Delfín, art

33
The poster features a painting by a renowned local painter, Fernando de Szyszlo,
and it was used to promote the Festivals in Lima in 1997, prior to the announce-
ment of the Biennials held in Lima that same year and in 2002. To the other side,
as in silent dialogue, the artist has placed a sequence of self-adhesives made by the
artist Eduardo Villanes, which was put up around the city and featured the image of
a Colina Group member with obliterated eyes and an ID number, reminiscent of
a mug shot. These are two complex contexts of contemporary visual and cultural
production in the midst of a reality that always exceeds them.

70 71
has always been part of a greater social and politi-
cal machinery made up of operators and workers in
different areas. Only together with everyone else can
they fire the engines that should procure knowledge,
culture and education as indispensable sources of
action and freedom.

Lima, June, 2007

72 73
 “Everything is useful:
Stones, shreds of glass,
machine parts”

Víctor Delfín

74 75
 “The pieces of metal used by Víctor
Delfín live beyond the form in which they
are arranged, which is mere coincidence,
what matters is Víctor Delfín’s work, pure
artisan creation, more engaged in life than
in dreams”

Mirko Lauer

76 77
 What a triumph it is to breed
a whole fauna and flora full
of contrasts, but monumen-
tal in the formless entrails
of such despised particles!
In matter, what spirit!

Jorge Basadre

78 79
80 81
82 83
84 85
86 87
88 89
90 91
 FOTO ALEJANDRA

94 95
96 97
 Chronology
1927 ria Gómez-Sánchez, Emilio Hernández Saavedra, José
Víctor Delfín was born on December 20 in Lobitos, Tang, Armando Varela and Luis Zevallos Hetzel, with
Piura. whom he opens an inaugural exhibition at El Ombligo
de Adán gallery and, subsequently, at the Lima Art Mu-
1943
seum.
Moves to Lima.
1967
1945
In August he is awarded First Prize in the category of
Accepted by the National School of Fine Arts (ENBA)
Contemporary Folk Art at the Folk Art Biennial held at
in Lima.
the Lima Art Museum and organized by the Peruvian
1953 Folk Artists’ Association, chaired by Carlos Bernasconi.
Interrupts his studies at the ENBA and settles in Tingo The First Prize for Traditional Folk Art goes to Joaquín
Maria. López Antay from Ayacucho.
Creates pieces in plexiglas (acrylic) and aluminum. Five
(around) 1956
of these pieces were bought by the Pasadena Museum,
Resumes studies at the ENBA.
California, during a visit by members of the interna-
1958 tional board of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Graduates from the ENBA with a degree in painting. in New York.
1959 1968
Awarded the Ignacio Merino National Prize for Painting Participates in the “3000 years of Peruvian painting”
for a painting entitled: Homenaje al Obrero de Construc- exhibition organized by the Jueves Cultural Association.
ción Civil (Homage to the Construction Worker) Creates a retablo for the María Reyna Church in San
Appointed director of the Puno School of Fine Arts. Isidro and an acrylic mural for the Pilsen Callao brew-
ery.
1961
In July he inaugurates his Bestiary exhibition at the Insti-
Directs the Ayacucho School of Fine Arts.
tute of Contemporary Art (IAC).
During these years he visits many folk art fairs in differ-
In December he inaugurates his exhibition entitled “The
ent provinces of Peru.
Signs of the Zodiac,” at the Lima Art Museum.
1964
1969
Moves to Santiago in Chile, where he teaches art at the
In February he opens his “Cabezas Clavas” (Stone
Providencia and Las Condes cultural institutes.
Heads) exhibition at the Ancón Festival.
1965 In October the Tambo de Oro restaurant and folk art
Returns to Lima. fair was opened and he sculpted a piece for it entitled
Sets up his workshop in the Bajada de los Baños, in Allegory of Popular Art.
Barranco.
1970
1966 Exhibits applied art pieces at the Lima Art Museum with
Exhibits a first series of his Retablos at the Art Center the sponsorship of ADELA Investment Company S.A.
gallery. In October he opens his Casa-Taller (Home-Workshop)
Around October he founds the group Arte Nuevo in Barranco, restoring a Tudor style house threatened
with Luís Arias Vera, Teresa Burga, Jaime Dávila, Glo- with demolition.

98 99
In December he organizes a Folk Art Fair in Barranco
and opens his home and workshop for the participating
artists.
Late in the same year he exhibits almost simultaneously
at the Arte de Ayer y Hoy gallery in Caracas and the
Miami Museum of Modern Art.
1971
In September he participates in the XI Sao Paulo Bien-
nial by invitation from the director of the event, Oscar
Ladman. He sends 18 metal sculptures enameled in
bright polychromatic lacquer.
That same month he is a special guest at the III Folk
Art Biennial.
1972
In May he opens his first individual exhibition in Brazil
at the Chelsea gallery in Sao Paulo.
Together with the Swiss-Peruvian artist Francisco Mari-
otti he produces a triptych sculpture entitled El Sol la
luna y el arco del cielo (The Sun the moon and the arc in
the sky), which they shortly after exhibit at the Coltejer
Biennial.
In September he opens his exhibition entitled Stoves
and chimneys at his Casa-Taller in Barranco.
Around November he creates a mural sculpture at the
new RTT (satellite station) facilities in Lesive, near Am-
beres in Belgium.
1973
In March he inaugurates the Sheraton Hotel in Lima,
the pinnacle of modernity in Peru at the time. He in-
stalls a set of luminous lamp metal sculptures there.
Commences his first series of Birds of America. A
collection of 12 is exhibited in Lima at the IV meet-
ing of the Consultative Commission of the ILO
Inter-American Conference held at the Sheraton in
Lima. They were subsequently sent to the VI Painting
and Sculpture Biennial in Zaragoza, Spain and 8 were
bought by the Zaragoza council for installation in a
public park.
In December he inaugurates two allegorical murals for
the entry to the Peruvian Military Academy in Chor-
rillos.
1974
In April he designs a set for the play The Can Opener
by Víctor Lanoux, which was staged in Lima by the Los
Cuatro theater company from Santiago in Chile.
In May he is awarded the Peruvian Cross of Military
Merit in the Grade of Knight.
A special 500-copy edition of the book “Delfin 10 years
‘64 ’74” was published in Guayaquil under the auspice
of Humberto Moré.
A documentary about Delfín produced by Procine and di-
rected by Carlos Ferrand and Pedro Neira is completed.
In August he opens an exhibition of reliefs, second se-
ries of Birds of America, at the Lima Art Museum.
The pieces were later exhibited at Oswaldo Guayasamín’s
Inticori gallery, located in his house in Quito.
1975
In January he inaugurates an exhibition of his third series
of Birds of America at Colombia’s National Museum.
This is the starting-point for an extended Latin Ameri-
can tour with this exhibition, alternated with returns to
Lima. In Costa Rica he exhibits at the National Library’s
Julián Marchena Gallery and in the Dominican Republic
at the Santo Domingo Museo del Hombre.
In December he showcases a series of small-scale pieces
in ceramics, wood, aluminum and silver at his Casa-
Taller.
1976
In May a retrospective of his work opens in Arequipa at
the La Compañía Cloisters sponsored by the Arequipa
office of the National Institute for Culture.
In September he opens an exhibition of sculptures and
drawings at La Galerie in Bogota.
1977
Creates 21 life-size animal sculptures in brass sheets and
exhibits them in October and November at the Bacardi
Art Gallery in Miami and New York.
1978
In April he exhibits a collection of his works at the Lima
Sheraton celebrating its fifth anniversary.
Shortly after he also exhibits tapestry designed by him
and produced by the Clisa carpet company.
100
1979
In January he inaugurates the exhibition “Iron and
bronze” at La Galería in Quito.
1980
Around May he exhibits at the Art and Culture Center
in Florida.
In September the new headquarters of the Industrial
Construction Bank (BIC) is inaugurated and it opens
with an in-door exhibition of a monumental sculptural
relief by Delfín.
In December he exhibits a collection of folk art pieces
and jewelry in iron, bronze, gold and silver.
1981
Participates in the 3000 years of sculptures in Peru exhi-
bition at the Lima Art Museum.
1982
Signs a two-year exclusive representation contract with
the L’Elan Vitale INC gallery in New York.
By invitation from the Mayor of Piura, Francisco Hilbck,
he commences a monumental sculpture entitled Peace
Dove for the Piura city Civic Center. After some criti-
cism the piece was left unfinished until 1995 when the
Cultural Pictorial Passage was inaugurated.
The German critic Selden Rodman publishes his study:
“Artists in tune with Their World. Masters of popular Art
in the Americas and their relation to the Folk Tradition”.
In December he exhibits at the Architect Association’s
Art Gallery in Pichincha, Ecuador.
1983
In October he participates in the I Trujillo Biennial as a
guest artist.
1984
In June he presents a sketch of a mosaic for the Daniel
Alcidez Carrión Socio-Cultural Circle (CESCDAC) at
the Trujillo National University. In September his work
is included in the exhibition The Avant-garde of the 60’s
curated by Gustavo Buntinx for the Miraflores Town
Hall Gallery.
That same month one of his pieces is included in the
permanent exhibition of the legendary Chelsea Hotel in
New York.
1985
In January he installs a white dove as a tribute to the
visit by Pope John Paul II. It is a public sculpture on
the Av. Salaverry in front of the Apostolic Nuncia-
ture.
1986
In June he exhibits a collection of pictorial pieces at the
Editorial Concepts gallery in Miami. In December he
installs a monumental piece in the Plaza of Technical
Cooperation within the headquarters of the National
Service of Occupational Training in Industry (SENA-
TI) on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
Over the following years he alternates living in Lima
with regular visits and short stays in New York City.
1990
In March he is awarded the Artistic Palms by the Minis-
try of Education for his contribution to popular art.
1992
In October the installation of his monumental sculp-
ture The Kiss and remodeling the so-called Love Park
in Miraflores begin.
1993
In February he inaugurates his sculpture in the Love Park.
In July he begins the long process of decorating the in-
teriors of the Three Crosses Temple located next to the
Mercedes Basilica in Paita.
Around December he inaugurates a retrospective exhi-
bition at the Luis Antonio Eguiguren Cultural Complex
in Piura with 40 pieces brought up from Lima.
Designs a sculpture on the mother-child theme for the
Children’s Park ine esa ciudad.
1995
On March 1 he travels to the border to participate
in the Caucus for Peace bringing together Peruvian
and Ecuadorian artists and intellectuals rejecting the
threat of conflict between these two countries. Oswal-
do Guayasamín, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Jorge Pedro
Vega and Carlos Calderón Chico participated from
Ecuador; Víctor Delfín, Arturo Corcuera, Leslie Lee,
Enrique Polanco and Edmundo Pantoja participated
from Peru.
101
Participates actively in the protest marches against the
Amnesty Law.
Founds and chairs the Civic Movement against Impunity
with Francisco Soberon, general Rodolfo Robles (ret),
Washington Delgado and father Gustavo Gutierrez.
In September the Cultural Pictorial Passage in the Piura
city Civic Center was inaugurated with his pieces.
Around December he commences a monumental piece,
an allegory of fisheries and maritime resources, in
Chimbota at the junction of the Pan-American Highway
roundabout and Av. Industrial.
1996
In February he produces a series of graphic pieces based
on Huamán Poma’s drawings, including a chronicle of
the Fujimori regime denouncing its corruption and au-
thoritarianism with great irony.
1997
Participates in the protests against Alberto Fujimori’s
dictatorial government.
Around September he organizes painting a mural on the
facade of Channel 2, Frecuencia Latina, defending free-
dom of expression.
Takes the first steps to establishing the La Resistencia
collective with which he starts a series of symbolic dem-
onstrations rejecting the government’s authoritarianism.
1998
Creates a monument for the Los Cóndores roundabout
in La Molina.
Receives an invitation to participate in celebrating the
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights at Palacio Chaillot, Paris.
2000
In February he is decorated Officer of the National Or-
der of Merit by the Ecuadorian government.
One of his pieces is featured on a poster for an event
organized by several citizens’ associations at Campo de
Marte.
Participates in the Marcha de los Cuatro Suyos (Four
Corners March) and is injured by a tear gas bomb
launched directly at him by the police.
Publication in Ecuador of the book “Delfín. Pictorial
and sculptural oeuvre”.
Exhibition of a collection of sculptures and paintings
at the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana’s Guayasamín gal-
lery.
2001
Exhibits at the Modern Art Museum in Cuenca, Ecua-
dor.
In April he creates a monumental piece as a tribute to
Tupac Amaru II for the Capilla del Hombre in Quito,
Ecuador.
In July he organizes a day of protest in front of the
Japanese Embassy in Lima demanding Fujimori’s extra-
dition.
Decorated as Commander of the Order of the Sun by
the Peruvian Government.
Becomes chair of the Peruvian Association of Visual
Artists (Aspay).
In September he is appointed President of the National
Commission for Culture.
2002
Awarded the Bernardo O’Higgins Medal by the Chilean
Government.
Produces a sculpture on Plaza Peru in Santiago in
Chile.
In December he inaugurates the exhibition “In black and
white,” with pieces by Leslie Lee, Roxana Cuba, Víctor
Delfín and Ana María Ortiz, all members of the group
La Resistencia, at the Petro-Peru Gallery.
2003
One of his pieces is included in the Generation of
68 exhibition “Between agony and the celebration of
modernity,” third in the series Generational Tensions
curated by Alfonso Castrillón at ICPNA in Mira-
flores
102 103