Victor "Slink" Duenas Silva was born in Peru on August 28, 1979. As a child, he loved to draw, paint and dance. Duenas embraced his artistic inclination and became an artist because by painting, he could nurture his imagination and develop his thoughts. He honed his skills at the National University of San Agustin in Arequipa, where he served on the art faculty from 1997 to 2003. His works are influenced by Caravaggio's tenebrism, van Vermeer's use of light, and Raphael's color palette. Duenas cites American artist Howard Pyle as a source of continuous inspiration and credits him for his artistic evolution. He intends to manifest the mysterious and unknown in his paintings, and to offset these profound themes, he manipulates the clarity and softness of color. Duenas routinely references photographs and defines his style as academic photorealism. Flowers are the main protagonists in his works. "By revealing the innermost chambers of a flower, I seek to show the very basics of nature's incredible beauty," states Duenas. "I am humbled by it." His work is permanently exhibited at galleries in his native Peru and internationally in various Central and South American countries, the US and Canada. Duenas is currently single and resides in Arequipa. |
