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Peru boasts one of the largest varieties of arts and crafts on
Earth, as can be seen from the growing network of exporters
who each year exhibit the skill of Peruvian craftsmen in Europe,
Asia and North America. The diversity, color, creativity and
multiple functions of Peru's folk art has made it a fundamental
activity not just for Peru's cultural identity, but also as
a way of life for thousands of families and even entire communities,
such as Sarhua and Quinua in Ayacucho.
Works of art, both big and small, spark admiration amongst
Peruvians and foreigners alike, are steeped in centuries of
history, imbued with pre-Hispanic shapes and symbols which
have merged with others brought over by the Spaniards. Peru
has forged a multiple and complex identity which is paradoxically
one of the reasons why Peruvian arts and crafts are tending
to shift towards naïf art, lending their works a touch
of innocence.
The excellence of Peruvian artisans can be seen in the harmony
of the geometric designs in weavings, the minute portraits
of peasant farming life on the carved gourds called mates
burilados, the cultural mestizaje or blend in the colorful
retablo boxed scenes. There are also the finely carved Huamanga
stone sculptures, the complex Baroque nature of the wooden
carvings, the beauty of gold and silver relics and the many
forms that pottery has shaped the clay into pottery.
These works are just some of the cultural manifestations of
a people who communicate mainly through art, using a language
whose fundamental aspects are abundance, fertility and confidence
in the future.
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