Who is “Don Pablo Amaringo” to Perfumera Curandera? 

Don Pablo Amaringo’s work is a constant reminder of the spirit and power of the Amazonian Rainforest, and a force of true artistic expression. I feel incredibly fortunate to have met and spent time with Don Pablo Amaringo when we first visited his Usko Ayar School of Amazonian Art back in the early 90s with my Peruvian husband. On our visit, we were given a tour of the school grounds and met the young artists in training, where we bought several small works of art from these young aspiring painters. Each painting depicting jungle scenes had common themes with elements such as the spirits of the trees, the enormity of the plants, the beautiful landscape of the Amazon Forest, the vastness of the Amazon river, the living creatures, and the Spirit realms that inhabit it.

On our trip, we purchased a large original painting from Pablo himself. Our choice was a piece depicting many magical realms and beings, space ships, geometrical patterns, the revered Anaconda Snake, and the spirit of the Ayahuasca vine. Ever since our journey to his school in Peru, our painting has been a source of great inspiration. Contemplating its intricate patterns and elements, one feels the beautiful energetic power of the spirits that Pablo was able to channel through his painted visions. 

His original painting along with the other smaller ones by his students has always hung in all my perfume studios. They’ve traveled from Woodstock to Malibu now in my little nook in Topanga, inspiring me daily. I feel they bring the magical energies from the mystical realms into each of my creations as I formulate, bottle, and send off my fragrant offerings. I create all of my Whole Plant perfumes with the intention that they will bring similar healing and transcendence as what one experiences when traveling into these divine realms that Amaringo shows us.

ABOUT DON PABLO AMARINGO

Pablo Amaringo was an acclaimed Peruvian artist who was the originator of a genre of colorful visionary art associated with Ayahuasca known as “The Vine of the Soul” and the magical nature of the Amazon Jungle. His paintings explored the relationships between man, spirit, and nature and the altered state of consciousness when dieting with the sacred plant medicines of the forest.They included fantastical representations of creatures, plants, and humans interacting with the natural world and the dreaming state. He received inspiration for his art from the inner journeys and visions he experienced when drinking the entheogenic plant brew, Ayahuasca.

Recognized as one of the world’s great visionary artists, Pablo Amaringo was renowned for his intricate, colorful paintings inspired by his shamanic visions. A master communicator of the ayahuasca experience--where snakes, jaguars, subterranean beings, celestial palaces, aliens, and spacecraft all converge--Amaringo’s art presents a doorway to the transcendent worlds that ayahuasca reveals, intended for contemplation, meditation, and inspiration.

Mr. Amaringo was number seven of thirteen children and was born in 1943 in Puerto Libertad on the banks of the Ucayali River near Iquitos. The family moved to Pucallpa to find work after becoming impoverished. Pablo suffered from severe heart problems after the move and became extremely ill; he couldn’t work for two years. He attributed his eventual cure to a local shaman, and from his experience with serious illness, he learned many healing techniques, gaining a reputation as a curandero and employing sacred Amazonian plants as medicines.

During the period of his recovery, he began to draw and paint. He could not afford paints, so he used the materials he had at hand, including cardboard boxes for a painting surface, lipstick from his sisters, and a blue substance called “permatex” that his friend brought to him from the car factory where he was employed.

ABOUT USKO-AYAR AMAZONIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING

The Usko-Ayar Amazonian School of Painting is a non-governmental, non-profit institution open to children, young people, and everyone who wants to learn the art of painting, especially people with scarce economic resources. Its mission is to bring art within the reach of everyone through spreading technical knowledge and that the same time promoting the personal development of each one of its members, with the purpose of seeking that the human being appreciates and preserve the creation, that is to say, their environment.

This school enabled many young people in his community to learn the techniques of visionary art. Some of his students became accomplished and well-recognized artists in their own right.

Usko-Ayar (Quecha term for "Spiritual Prince") was created in 1988 through the collaboration of Peruvian painter and Shaman, Pablo Amaringo, and the Colombian anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna and his wife, Sirpa Rasanen. The first pupils remain today as teachers, and the school has more than 700 students. The school is open to all and is free of cost. Art materials and other expenses are met by sales of paintings; half is paid to the painter. It is more than an art school. It is an institution devoted to the rescue and preservation of the knowledge and the traditions of the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon. The art is a documentation of the flora, fauna, and culture of the Amazon, that promotes and preserves the traditional knowledge of medicinal and other plants of this region.

Some of these Usko Ayer Series of paintings are available for purchase from The Electric Gallery. Visit the "Amazon Project" to see their entire collection of paintings and more information about the artists and their art. Pablo Amaringo’s work has been shown at galleries worldwide, and he was honored with the Global 500 Award from the United Nations environmental program in 1992. Pablo Amaringo passed away in 2009.