Manly Daily - November 1992
Daily Newspaper, Sydney Australia

PERUVIAN'S ART IN HIGH PLACES

Dee Why painter Ernesto Arrisueno had the distinction of having an exhibition in Canberra's High Court building.

It is probably the highlight so far in the former Peruvian's four years in Australia, where he has come to live with his family to escape his troubled homeland.

Trained as an architect but with a lifelong interest in painting, Ernesto worked for only four or five months in his father's architecture practice after graduating before he decided to paint full-time.

The exhibition of 15 "symbolic realist" works in the court foyer was opened last Friday by the Peruvian ambassador to Australia. Usually Ernesto exhibits at Wagner Art Gallery in Paddington. The Belgian artist Margritte is one of his major influences.

Ernesto was invited to show his work as part of an occasional display of foreign artists in the High Court building.

In Peru he managed to make a living in painting for 20 years. The Australian market has been harder to crack. "It's hard because of the recession here and it can be difficult to get gallery space," he said.