Pablo César Amaringo Shuna

About

Pablo Amaringo (1938–2009) was a Peruvian visionary artist and shamanic healer from the Amazon rainforest who became internationally renowned for his intricate, colorful paintings depicting ayahuasca visions. Born in Puerto Libertad in the Peruvian Amazon to a large, impoverished family, Amaringo first encountered ayahuasca at age ten to treat a severe heart condition. He trained as a curandero (healer) and vegetalista shaman for decades, learning the icaros (healing songs) and spiritual practices of Amazonian shamanism before transitioning to full-time artistic practice in 1977 following a magical conflict with another sorcerer. In 1985, Amaringo met anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna, who encouraged him to paint his ayahuasca visions. This collaboration resulted in the seminal book "Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman," which brought his work and Amazonian mythology to Western audiences. In 1988, Amaringo founded USKO-AYAR (Escuela de Pintura Amazonica), a free painting school in Pucallpa, Peru, where he taught students and preserved Amazonian artistic traditions. His paintings, characterized by geometric patterns, vibrant colors, and depictions of spirit beings and mythic creatures, bridged the spiritual and material worlds, offering viewers glimpses into the visionary realms he accessed through shamanic practice.

Visionary art; psychedelic art depicting ayahuasca visions characterized by intricate geometric patterns, vibrant colors, mythic creatures, and spiritual imagery