A powerful connection to
nature in all its forms is the inspiration for artist Guido Delcarpio. Animated
and expressive, this man of fifty years speaks poetically about travels that
took him around the world to discover the person and purpose within himself.
His wonderful painting "Lips are Thoughts" appears on the cover of
this magazine. This portrayal of a human face covered with leaves expresses his
own desire to become better connected to the world of trees, leaves, fish and
animals.
Born in Peru, Delcarpio left his hometown of
Arekuipa at the tender age of fourteen to study art. He became a designer and
illustrator at Espresso, a famous tabloid newspaper. By age nineteen, he was in
Cuernavaca, Mexico, meeting with the country's great
artists and studying the artistic tradition of muralism. It was in Mexico that he first felt a resonance with
animals, vegetables and plants. "I felt a click, a sense of being more
complete in myself," says this South American. "But it wasn't enough
so I went to Spain, where I worked for a famous
publisher who did the Spanish-language versions of illustrated comic books for
Gene Autry, Batman and Tarzan."
Further travels in Spain and France heightened his abilities as a comic
book artist, illustrator and fine painter expressing his pre-Hispanic roots.
Yet something was missing. "I was going through a very deep spiritual
crisis and emptiness," says Delcarpio, who said it lasted from ages
twenty-three to thirty-five. "I was trying to find answers to the
questions in my life and fell into a deep depression. I was going down, down,
down. I was looking for the answers in art. Nothing was helping. I had
absolutely no hope."
By now Delcarpio was the
father of two children who needed to work to put food on the table for his
family. He made the decision to go to New York City, where he worked for a
Spanish-language newspaper. While he won a prize for his design work,
validating his abilities, he had to put his fine art aside. "A crisis came
up and my depression got worse," he says. "Something told me I needed
to get through this. An inner voice told me I had to find a reason for my
feelings. I hit bottom in New York when I became sick and tired of
being sick and tired."
At age forty, he headed for
Dania
Beach, Florida, which he calls "a beautiful
city." Yet its sunshine and pristine beaches couldn't heal what was inside
Delcarpio who made the decision to head home to Peru for two years. It was the best
thing he could have done for himself. "My goal was to go to the Amazon
jungle and achieve a reconciliation with my past," he says. "I worked
with trees, vegetables and animals including jaguars, which are the father of
the spirit of the jungle."
Through the help of a
shaman or spiritual healer, Delcarpio says, "I had a spiritual experience
and eventually became part of the jungle, where there are beautiful dolphins
with huge snouts, sweet water and legends of beautiful girls. The history of
the jungle put me in a place of imagination. I am already spiritually
connected. I asked for forgiveness and the chance to get back to the natural
with spirits and energies. They received me and I accepted with humility. After
that my depression went away. My soul led me to the jungle and a very big voice
led me to the Amazon."
His time spent in the
jungle was part observation and part reflection. "I found a small room
inside a house to live and made a lot of sketches and notes about what was
happening to me, including voices, music and animals," says the artist.
"I felt the autonomy of the jaguars when I saw them in the heart of the
jungle. Trees are like cities with species. It's a beautiful eco-system that
shows us what is wrong with us. You can see a universal intelligence and the
jaguar is part of it."
Now this resident of Tamarac, Florida is on a mission with his paintings
and watercolors. "My paintings are to protest, to try to change the
perception of ourselves," says Delcarpio. "The tree is my brother.
It's impossible to separate us from nature. The representation of the
eco-system is in our brains. All leaves are like thoughts. We can become like
trees, full of foliage and nice flowers. It's up to us to hear this call to
awareness. Wake up, people, wake up now! We need to recognize who we are. I am
connected with everything, every animal and being in the universe. My goal is
to become more animal, not more human."
Delcarpio espouses the
unorthodox belief that people need to take their cues from the natural world.
"We need to learn more about animals," he says. "You don't see
animals get depressed. The birds are always singing around me. How can you
worry when birds are making music for you?"
The humble lessons that
nature teaches include the perfect design of the universe. Delcarpio supports
non-profit organizations such as Greenpeace working to protect Mother Nature.
He continues to paint, showing a visitor touching portraits of homeless people
he met in South
Florida.
"Maybe they're drunks or drugs addicts or thieves," he says.
"Who am I to judge? I can't judge but I can paint. I like that
license."
