Dear Readers,

Taking a close look at the agenda, you will surely notice that the second part of the show and sport season is rather busy !

Over the next three to four months, not less than 4 major FCI Championships will take place:

From 17 to 19 June, the European Lure Coursing Championship will take place in Velke Pole (Slovak Republic). It is a unique opportunity to enjoy this very specific and enthusiastic atmosphere of racing dogs major championships (info: http://www.skj.sk).

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Yves De Clercq
FCI Executive Director
Diego Mánchez Raymondi: The Peruvian Hairless Dog artist

Little hairless Peruvian dog
Little Chinese dog
hungry naked little dog
don’t eat my hands yet because I want to stroke you.

Negro Agüero

  • Diego Mánchez and his sculpture Técnica, forged from metal, actual size: 120 x 55 cm, approximate weight: 15 kg; Bellas Artes exhibition hall, Lima (Peru)
  • “Viringo Once Segundos en el Tiempo” project, sculptural installation, technique: concrete and metals, actual size: 55 x 75 cm; hall of the Escuela de Bellas Artes, Lima (Peru)
  • Peruvian hairless dog in concrete and metal
  • Peruvian hairless dog in concrete and metal
  • “Viringo Once Segundos en el Tiempo” project; ICPNA exhibition hall – Lima, February 2015
  • Sculpture of Peruvian hairless dog
  • 7 Sculpture of Peruvian hairless dog, Kunstwollen exhibition, “Voluntad Artística sobre la Materia”; San Isidro cultural centre exhibition hall, Lima (Peru), September 2015
  • Diego Mánchez and his metal sculpture; Bellas Artes exhibition hall, December 2014
  • Portrait, bust in tribute to the “hairless dog”, fibreglass sculpture, gold finish, measurements: 24 x 14 cm
  • Sculpture of hairless dog made of fibreglass, dimensions: 30 x 14 cm; currently part of the Klub Chovatelů Naháčů, Prague, Czech Republic, April 2016
  • Artist Diego Mánchez at the ceremony held in recognition of his artistic career, Cañete – Lima, April 2016
  • Study for drawing of the “Peruvian hairless dog”
  • “Viringo - Perro sin Pelo del Perú” painting done in 2014, 36 x 25 cm, currently part of the collection of the Peruvian Embassy in the Czech Republic, April 2016
  • Painting by the artist Diego Mánchez at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris, France, November 2015.
  • “Guardián viringo” sculpture at the screening of the film entitled “LE CHIEN NU DU PEROU” by Pedro Santiago Allemant, at the headquarters of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in Thuin, Belgium, November 2015

This is a legendary creature. Its spirit guides the dead as they travel towards the hereafter. They were buried together with the most important men of the estates of Northern Peru. Their image has been handed down to us in the art of the ancient Peruvians. We are talking about the Peruvian Hairless Dog, a dog breed known all over the world for its beauty, history and even its curative properties.

The tradition of recognising the Peruvian Hairless Dog (which is also known as the “perro viringo”, “vitilingo”, “perro chino” [Chinese Dog], “perro chimú”, “perro calato” [Naked Dog], “perro de Sechura” and by many other names) has grown and become better-known over the last few years. This is the background to the appearance of the artistic work of a young sculptor, and indeed this work is now spanning the globe.

Diego Mánchez Raymondi (Lima, Cañete, 1988) is a graduate of the Escuela Nacional Autónoma de Bellas Artes, specialising in sculpture, and his interest in the hairless dog started to grow just as he was reaching the end of his studies: “When I was working on the artistic installation in tribute to the Peruvian hairless dog project, I based what I was doing on the historic image of this animal, considering its relevance to the Andean view of the world found in ancient Peru and as a source of social beliefs which were manifested through the artistic representations of the Chavin, Cupisnique, Salinar and Chimu cultures as well as Moche ceramics”.

His main subject is the hairless dog in historic memory, for which he draws on his own life and experience. Mánchez has a special relationship of his own with the Peruvian hairless dog because, when he was fifteen, he was given a small “viringo” which, unfortunately, died a year later. Even so, his love for his dog managed to cross the borders of memory and has now been turned into art. In 2014, the artist created the sculpture installation entitled Viringo, Once Segundos en el Tiempo, which consists of portraying the Peruvian dog in sculptures. “One scene”, comments the artist, “consisted of creating a Peruvian dog which could cheat death. In a locked room with light and shade installations, the dog is reborn out of the earth and flies through the air as it comes back to life”, thus giving expression to a surrealistic vision.

Diego Mánchez has created a varied body of work interweaving painting, sculpture and drawing, using various different materials and so, thanks to his ingenuity and skill, we are able to enjoy works of art inspired by the Peruvian Hairless Dog employing media such as oil painting, watercolours, sculptures in concrete, metal, fibreglass and others. In addition to this, his body of work includes more than eleven sculptures of Peruvian hairless dog in motion, using both sculptural assembly techniques and concrete and metals as the main materials, and each piece can weigh up to around 25 kilos. But why choose cement as the raw material for the sculpture given that its hardness and rigidity are in contrast to the gentleness of the Peruvian hairless dog? “I wanted to move away a bit from materials such as fibreglass / resin and the realistic figure” replies Diego Mánchez. “I tried to create my own line as an artist and to explore rigid sculptural materials, so as I was using an element such as concrete I put it together with an urban subject matter, in the way I did years ago with four pieces showing hairless dogs made of concrete and which were soiling the Peruvian flag. Soiling our country’s flag was a political critique, which is why I identified with it”, said the sculptor.

At the moment, behind each of Diego Mánchez’s paintings or sculptures there is affection for his new dog Samin, a charming hairless dog; but also an exhaustive study of the physiognomy of the hairless dog, including the way they move when they walk, run or jump; their musculature, dimensions, shapes, lines, etc., as well as historical research: “I’m really interested in the Peruvian hairless dog and I’ll carry on investigating it and getting to know it better”. Mánchez acknowledges that this is the only way of both promoting the image of the hairless dog and preserving it in its home country. This is a dog which is considered to be living cultural heritage, an age-old breed which needs to be protected: “One of the conclusions drawn from my research project at the Escuela de Bellas Artes is that we have to promote the protection, defence and care of the Peruvian Hairless Dog, and of all animals, along with biodiversity and endangered species”, and this is a commitment which is now being fulfilled through art.

N.B. One piece by the artist Diego Mánchez is at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in France and, in addition to this, his sculpture of the Peruvian hairless dog, “Guardián viringo”, is part of the private collection of the Fédération Cynoloqique Internationale (FCI) museum in Belgium. Another of his sculptures is at the Klub Chovatelů Naháčů in the Czech Republic.

Diana Gonzales Obando