AN ANALYTICAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE HISTORY OF PERU, AT DANIEL CUEVAS
By Álvaro de Benito
The History of Peru. 13 artists, 12 works, presented at Galería Daniel Cuevas and curated by Miguel Aguirre, brings together the work of thirteen Peruvian artists to trace a critical journey through the social and political history of Peru. By revisiting key episodes and moments in the country’s past, the exhibition reveals how the impact of tensions, inequalities and unresolved conflicts continues to shape its structural problems and its social fabric.
The eleven works on view offer a visual narrative that challenges official and officialist accounts, opening a space for visibility, critique, and analysis. The selected artists foreground issues and conflicts that remain open wounds and that have played a decisive role in the formation of Peruvian identity.
Fernando Bryce (Lima, Peru, 1965) presents Obra 100+, a superimposition of recognizable graphic elements and images and texts taken from the internet or generated by artificial intelligence, through which he reflects on capitalism, globalization, and the omnipresence of the economy and corruption. Migrante, a graphite drawing on canvas by Claudia Coca (Lima, Peru, 1970), addresses the colonial semiotics of the “other” in relation to migration and imperial discourse. Sandra Gamarra (Lima, Peru, 1972) contributes a series that juxtaposes classical art texts by historian Corrado Ricci with Peruvian press photographs of vulnerable populations, creating a dialogue that contrasts the classicism of European art with the social realities of contemporary Peru.
Jean Paul Zelada (Trujillo, Peru, 1972) and Alejandra Delgado (La Paz, Bolivia, 1977) collaborate on Just for one day, a depiction of a military scene featuring Francisco Bolognesi and his officers, which is unexpectedly interrupted by the presence of Madonna—an allusion to the ways historical memory and popular culture coexist and transform one another. Nicole Franchy (Lima, Peru, 1977) turns to landscape and territory in Huepetuhe, denouncing environmental devastation through beams of light that fracture space. The painting series of Iosu Aramburu (Lima, Peru, 1986) operates as a tribute to socialist thinker José Carlos Mariátegui, recreating intimate portraits of him from a deeply human and emotional perspective.
Verónica Luján (Trujillo, Peru, 1987) begins with a press photograph taken during the 2023 protests in northern Peru, using painting to evoke the contradictions and complexities of the country’s political climate. The pictorial collage of Raúl Silva (Lima, Peru, 1991) draws from old engravings, baroque painting, comic books and recent photography to reflect on destruction, colonialism, and the relationship between nature and civilisation. Benjamín Cieza Hurtado (Lima, Peru, 1991), in Aquellos años maravillosos I and II, explores how sport and religion operate as fundamental components in the construction of collective and social imagination.
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Jean Paul Zelada y Alejandra Delgado. Just for one day, 2013-2025. Óleo sobre lienzo 99 x 120 cm
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Nicole Franchy. Huepetuhe, 2002. Técnica mixta 59 x 91 cm
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Iosu Aramburu, Despedida (JCM-AO I), 2022. Óleo sobre tela 33 x 26 cm
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Verónica Luján. La histeria del Perú, 2025. Óleo sobre tela 40 x 50 cm
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Raúl Silva. S.T, 2022. Óleo y grafito sobre papel adherido a lámina de metal 80 x 100 cm
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Benjamín Cieza Hurtado. Aquellos maravillosos años I. Óleo sobre tela
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Fernando Nureña. Sin título (W Retto 01), 2025. Óleo y sobre lino 40 x 50 cm
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Juan Carlos Catacora. Hay miedo y celebración II, 2025. Óleo y sobre tela 32 x 50 cm
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Ashly Gómez. El peruano ya aprendió, 2025. Acrílico sobre cartulina 51.5 x 41 cm
Fernando Nureña (Lima, Peru, 1993) employs pictorial recreation as a means to reclaim memory and legacy, while Juan Carlos Catacora (Lima, Peru, 1996), also through painting, questions the catastrophist construction of reality in the media and points to anonymity as an inseparable part of that narrative. In the same vein, Ashly Gómez (Lima, Peru, 2002) presents two works inspired by a sensationalist newspaper to expose the normalization of violence, police repression, and structural violence.
The History of Peru. 13 artists, 12 works can be visited at Galería Daniel Cuevas, Santa Engracia 6, Madrid (Spain), until 16 January 2026.
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