Today we’d like to introduce you to Peru 143

Hi PERU, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

My wife always says how lucky I am to have found my purpose early on because a lot of people spend their lives searching for theirs. As always, she’s right :-)

But all that luck had to combine with a whole lot of hard work so that when the opportunities arose I was ready for it. I knew I was artistic from early on, my older brother played a big role in inspiring me to get into it, and no matter how many things took me off course through the years I always came back to art as a source of joy and therapy.
I grew up in Lima with dreams of becoming a professional soccer player until I turned 16, when a depressed economy and volatile culture led me to move to Ottawa, Canada with my grandmother. Having grown up travelling throughout Peru’s exotic extremes, as my father was a dirt-bike racer, I grew close to nature and I had a lot of time to myself where my imagination ran free and drawing developed into more than a hobby. Later in life I attempted to “study art” but found it often counter-intuitive and ended up learning most of what I know, my work ethic and met my influences from painting graffiti and skateboarding. It was a struggle to make a living for over a decade but I eventually got the hang of the industry and I now have art across the globe with murals throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and even outer space.

When I lived in Ottawa, I started off painting small canvases to sell at school so I could pay for all the trespassing fines from train yards and for skateboarding. This led to galleries approaching me and it all culminated in a European tour but I quickly realized I didn’t like the lifestyle of a gallery artist. Luckily, my graffiti murals led me to win a 2-mural commission for the National Capital Commission with a good friend and mentor Pat Thompson, as well as two Canada Heritage grants to paint murals at the International Earth Festival in Vancouver. I went to art school after high school and even tried graphic design at a university but it wasn’t for me either so I moved to Montreal to try something different.

In Montreal, I continued developing my skills and knowledge as I established myself as an artist while managing an art store, digging ditches in farms, or testing localized Spanish on video games. In 2007 I started working with MU, a non-for-profit arts organization, and I have continued to work with them, painting murals throughout the country, including Canada’s longest mural. At the same time, I developed relationships with many corporate clients such as Cirque du Soleil, Amex, AB InBev, Bell Media and the Marriott Hotels. Working for these big brands allowed me to take on many grassroots projects that, although had low to non-existent budgets, were more fulfilling and better aligned with my mission. I exhibited twice at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with the art initiative En Masse, a successful collective that brought me to work on dozens of collaborative murals throughout Canada, US, Mexico and China. I worked with clients like Facebook, Nike and Adidas on various campaigns from here to LA, and I facilitated dozens of workshops in high schools and Universities across Canada. Working with youth and being a mentor has always been an important part of my practice. After more than a decade in Montreal, my wife and I decided to try living in Toronto with the goal of leveling up our careers, and hopefully having children.

We spent 8 long years in Toronto where I learned how to woodwork and build installations, while painting over 100 walls and establishing myself as an international artist beautifying neighbourhoods from the US to Japan. We also had the luck of having twins but once the pandemic hit, we decided to move back to Montreal where I re-established myself and have continued to grow my presence in for the past 3 years. Since then, I have produced a multitude of murals in schools, community centers, businesses, alleyways, trucks, and festivals locally and abroad. Since moving back I’ve painted murals for companies like Google and Starbucks but, most notably, in 2022 I was approached by an aerospace company based out of Singapore that sent 50 golden plates to outerspace, 4 of which I designed and were fixed onto a satellite which was shot into space aboard a SpaceX Zeus-1 rocket and is currently orbiting Earth. It was part of a project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pioneer-10 probe that Carl Sagan and NASA developed as a “Message to Extraterrestrial Life”.

I have a project in Chicago I’m very excited about, a place that keeps calling me back years later, and I just decided to go to Art Basel in Miami with my brother in December; a spectacle I’ve been avoiding for years..

Otherwise, I just finished a couple large murals for the music festivals here in Montreal, with Evenko, one of my favourite clients, and for the past year I’ve been leading the production of a quarter million-dollar project I was awarded by the City of Mississauga with Bacon & Qrock from Toronto, while at the same time working on some smaller projects with communities and doing small commissions on toy trains for children. No project is too big or too small if the intention is right ;-)

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

The struggles I’ve faced are insignificant in comparison to the suffering many others face daily so I try to see obstacles as opportunities and problem solving as a game. I’m just grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and happy that they weren’t any worse.

I’ve had a few challenging setbacks as an artist from breaking my painting wrist skateboarding to falling 20 feet down scaffold, which landed me in bed for a couple of months but thanks to skateboarding I was able to break my fall without breaking any more bones. Being dyslexic has not been very helpful when it comes to remembering people’s names, job parameters, directions and logistics in general but I’ve managed to find ways to live with it and keep track of a dozen projects at a time while still making every deadline, I’m just grateful to be able to live this life and give that example to my kids.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I spray paint murals and graffiti of all sizes throughout the world. I can paint anything but gravitate toward abstract geometry rooted in lettering and I prefer to paint spontaneously, intuitively and freehanded…ly. I’m known for being precise, working fast, and having an eclectic array of styles. I’ve been happily married for over 15 years and I’m a proud parent of twins. The commitment required to maintain a healthy lifestyle takes a certain amount of discipline and intention.

Even though Art came into my life first, my children always come first. Graffiti saved my life and Muralism gave me one. I know how fortunate and privileged I am and I dont take this responsibility for granted. When I’m invited into a community, I come with nothing but an open heart to do the most healing, open ears to listen to the intention and inspiration, and an open mind to intuitively channel my spirit uplifting geometry.

I’m also an internationally recognized muralist whose practice is informed by digital and traditional art forms and over 25 years of painting graffiti, so far. A proponent of the ‘Graffuturism’ movement, much of my artistic energy today is dedicated to bridging and advancing the traditions of graffiti and mural art. Rooted in positivity, my work aims to heal, inspire and uplift people’s spirits by transforming neglected and often oppressive places into safe, playful, and imaginative spaces. Ultimately, my purpose is to encourage social change in the form of consciousness-shifting works of art – to create works that communicate the necessity of evolving and rising above our differences by understanding the interconnectedness between all living things. I think we’d treat each other better if this was better understood.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?

People can reach out if they enjoy my work and we can see how I can best help them enhance a brand id, beautify a space by painting a mural, build an installation for a music festival, paint graffiti on a truck, etc. I am an educator, a consultant, a graphic artist and illustrator so odds are, I can do it and in a very unique way. I also started a new company with my wife who has many complementary skills that very few people possess to cultivate collaboration through art and storytelling so look up https://www.twinwisestudios.com/ ;-)

People can support me by reaching out with projects, sharing my work, buying paintings and commissions or just writing to tell me they enjoy my work :-)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.peru143.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peru143
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peruonefourthree
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/peru143

Image Credits
Olivier Bousquet
Chris Miner