Northern Lights Art Gallery

This is the final exhibit of the season hosted by the Northern Lights Art Gallery.

Moguya shares his thoughts on his art.
I have always admired Renaissance art. When I was a teen I wanted to be like Michel Angelo and sculpt the human body and all of its beauty. Back in Peru I took numerous anatomy classes and learned to draw and model the human body.

When I began my Masters of Fine Art degree at University of North Dakota, I knew I wanted to continue depicting the human figure and using it as my main subject and form of art. After building numerous figures in clay, I concluded I was failing at creating the figure I had envisioned. This was very frustrating. I was not pleased with any of my new works. It left me unsure of what direction to take my artwork. My frustration was compounded by the fact that it was my first time in the United States, and my first time out of Perú. At that time, everything was new for me. I had problems communicating with my peers, as it is different to learn English in a Spanish speaking country than practicing it in the United States. Some days I went home with painful headaches.

In 2003, I turned my attention to building clay figures that looked as if they were thinking (The Thinker by Rodin was a big influence). I quickly finished my first new figure. The new work looked good, but again, it didn’t match the image I had in mind. I sat in front of it, contemplated for a while, took a carving tool, and began to draw some lines over the surface. Eventually those lines crossed each other and became patterns. It made the figure look as if it was built of individual pieces, becoming the inspiration for my current puzzle piece series. The first figure in this series was filled with these puzzle pieces. This puzzle figure was holding a single piece in his hand as if pondering where it fit or where it came from. Perhaps the image of the puzzle piece came from a childhood memory as I remembered my sister always playing with puzzles, something that was beyond my abilities and patience.

Most of us have felt the sensation of something missing and not knowing what it is. We have felt that uncomfortable feeling of emptiness and are unable to describe it. I don’t believe life is a walk in the park anymore. It is difficult and complex. The puzzle pieces represent those little parts of everyone’s life and shape us as human beings. I never thought of myself as a real artist until 3 years ago. So many things have happened since I arrived in North Dakota making me what I am today.

About my work, it is most likely described as figurative. The human body is still a rich resource of images that inspire my creativity. Therefore, I use that imagery to depict or portray some aspects of myself and society as well. As a general rule I divided my work into three brunches: puzzles, baby devils, and faceless. Apparently there must be no formal relation among the three; however, I see them as the sequence of my train of thought. My work ranges from quite complex and detailed forms such as the puzzle sculptures to forms more simplistic such the faceless. The baby devils are in between, sharing visual qualities from both ends. Either branch is used to materialize social or political issues.