Ernesto Arrisueño, 1957 | Magic Realism painter

Ernesto Arrisueño, Peruvian painter, was born in Lima, a time when migration to Australia was almost exclusively from Britain and Europe. In the past decade however, Australian life has been enriched by migration from many South American countries. Arrisueño studied art in Lima before completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Ricardo Palma University.

Throughout the 1980's he exhibited widely in Peru in both individual and group exhibitions. Architectural drawing, for which he had won a number of prizes as a student, developed as a major theme in his work where figures and objects are juxtaposed with beautifully rendered building fragments.

He came to Australia in 1989 and soon found success in local exhibitions. The crisp reality of Arrisueño's works creates an air of mystical calm, a world of still waters, a myriad of flowers and isolated enigmatic figures. His current work blends memories of his early years in the dry barren landscape of Peru with the new visions and traditions of his life in Australia.