Julio Aguilera
Encyclopedia
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, on July 28, 1961. Previously to his career as an artist, Aguilera was a martial arts world champion and trainer who in 1987 was awarded the sixth Dan in Kung Fu when he was just 26 years old.
Biography
Aguilera was born in CatiaCatia
Catia may refer to*Catia - neighbourhood of Caracas*Catia La Mar - Venezuelan town*Catia - a family in Ancient Rome*Catia - type of butterfly*CATIA...
, one of the poor neighborhoods surrounding Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
. His mother died at birth and he was raised by his grandmother and other relatives. At age 6, he was making a living as a shoe polisher while attending primary school. After graduating from high school in 1978 from the Colegio San Agustin
Colegio San Agustin
Colegio San Agustin can refer to the following Augustinian schools:In Bolivia:*Colegio San Agustín in CochabambaIn Chile:*Colegio San Agustín in SantiagoIn the Philippines:*Colegio San Agustin - Bacolod in Bacolod City...
, Julio studied at the Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas.
Aguilera was inclined towards the arts since he was in primary school, and he began painting at a young age after a local painter gave him a handful of used brushes and half-empty tubes of oil paint. However strong, his artistic inclinations had to take a back seat for several years while Aguilera struggled to move out of the slums. During this time, he painted mostly for enjoyment, giving away his canvases to friends and relatives while he made his way through school. While at the Instituto Pedagógico, Julio enrolled himself in the academy of Chan Lee Kam Fai, one of Venezuela's most renowned martial arts training academies. , unbeknownst Julio, he would later become the future president of the Venezuelan Federation of Chinese Martial Arts and the International Hung Sing Choy Li Fat Chan Kim Fay. This decision temporarily separated him from his artistic career due to the success he would enjoy as a martial artist.
In July, 1978, Aguilera earned the black belt
Black belt (martial arts)
In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...
in the Choy Lay Fut Kung-Fu style, and during that and the following year he participated in several international competitions and exhibitions, including the Muay Thai
Muay Thai
Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...
World Championship in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, the Barehand Championship in China and the International Martial Arts Open of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, which he won in 1979. From that year until 1981, he stayed on the Caribbean island, working as a trainer in Santurce
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Santurce is a district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.-Summary:Santurce is one of the top ten most populated areas of the island holding Miramar, Loíza, Isla Grande, Barrio Obrero, and Condado as main cultural hot spots for art, music, cuisine, fashion, hotels, technology, multimedia, film, textile and...
, until he was handpicked to co-develop in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
Top Spa Gym at the time the most successful gym in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, located in Las Mercedes sector of the city. Two years later, he was part of the Venezuelan Martial Arts team at the 1983 Pan American Games
1983 Pan American Games
The ninth Pan American Games were held in Caracas, Venezuela from August 14 to August 29, 1983. The games were the first major international competition to include relatively accurate steroid testing...
in the same city.
In 1983, Aguilera met and married Janice Touht, an American choreographer working in the local theater and TV industry. With Touht he opened a multidisciplinary academy with dancing and languages training directed by Touht herself and other Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n professionals such as Anita Vivas, Antonio Drijas and Betty Kaplan
Betty Kaplan
Betty Kaplan is a Venezuelan-American film director born in New York City and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She has directed Betty Kaplan is a Venezuelan-American film director born in New York City and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She has directed Betty Kaplan is a Venezuelan-American film...
. After much fanfare, the academy didn't last a year and in 1984, Julio and his wife moved to the United States.
After a brief stay in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1985 Julio moved to Diamond Bar, California, and opened another martial arts academy under the name "Eagle Lighting". This time, the business was a success and in a few years he opened other branches in Marina del Rey, San José
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
. It was while he taught Martial Arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that he won the Bare Hand Kung-Fu World Championship in August 1987. That same month, he was awarded the 6th Dan in China Kung-Fu, I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
Kung-Fu by the International Kung Fu Federation. Despite all those achievements, Aguilera retired from Martial Arts in 1987, closed down the academies and moved to New York City with his wife. During the following years he flirted with corporate America
Corporate America
Corporate America is an informal phrase describing the world of corporations within the United States not under government ownership....
and the tried opening a few businesses himself, but the Californian success didn't repeat in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he divorced Janice Touht in 2001.
During his years in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Julio always kept a studio inside the academy, where he painted with lukewarm success. After the several failed business ventures, he began painting professionally around 1997. That year, he bought fifty canvases and in three months developed what is known as the Blue Series.http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68031&goto=nextnewest http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67986 Aguilera promoted these pieces through web forums and the Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n Consulate in New York, and by 2000 his work had been exhibited in Spain, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
in sold out shows.
After a show in the Venezuelan Consulate in 2003 http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2003/02/14/30755.html, Julio was appointed as the Venezuelan Cultural Attaché
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
in New York City, a position he held until 2006. At the same time, he became the General Manager of the El Nuevo Cojo Ilustrado
El Nuevo Cojo
El Nuevo Cojo Ilustrado was a free alternative webzine published monthly from Harlem, New York. It was founded in 2003, and originally conceived as an arts and opinion magazine focused exclusively on Venezuelan culture for Venezuelans living in the United States...
a Hispanic general interest magazine based in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, and started to experiment with bronze, producing a series of statues from his studio in New Jersey.
About his art, critics are uniform about Aguilera's style. He's unashamed about the influence of Picasso and other Spanish master like Goya, El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
and Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
. And according to the art critic Ed McCormack, Managing Editor of Gallery & Studio Magazine, "more than any other artist in the Hispanic Diaspora, Aguilera has brought new blood, so to speak, to that still vital tradition, which came to encompass not only the spirit of Spain but all the antique cultural booty that the canny old pirate, Picasso, looted from France Italy and the North."
Recent exhibitions
- 2006 - Davidoff of Geneva. New York City.
- 2005 - Venezuelan Consulate Gallery, New York City.
- 2004 - Citibank Park Avenue. New York City.
- 2004 - Marriott Marquis, New York, New York.
- 2004 - Art. Atlanta. Atlanta Convention Center. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 2004 - Thyme Gallery, Havertown, Pennsylvania.
- 2004 - Venezuelan Consulate Gallery, New York City.
- 2004 - Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia Convention Center.
- 2004 - International ArtExpo. Jacob Javits Center, New York City.
- 2004 - Décor Expo International, Jacob Javits Convention Center New York City.
- 2004 - Citibank. One Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.
- 2003 - Venezuelan Center, New York City.
- 2003 - Frames Works Galleries. Holland, Michigan.
- 2003 - Kandu Galleries. Holland, Michigan.
- 2003 - International Art Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada.
- 2003 - General Motors / GMC. East Hampton, New York.
- 2003 - Art Chicago, - Navy Pier. Chicago, Illinois.
- 2003 - Art Atlanta, - Atlanta Convention Center. Atlanta, GA.
- 2003 - International ArtExpo. Jacob Javits Center New York City.
- 2003 - Galleria West, New Jersey.
- 2003 - Art Miami, Miami, Florida.
- 2003 - Latin Museum. Miami, Florida.
- 2002 - La Gallerie. East Elmhurst, New York.
- 2002 - La Gallery. New York City.
- 2002 - Palm Springs International Art Fair. Convention center Palm Springs, California.
- 2002 - Feria Cuadro Madrid, Spain.
- 2002 - Venezuelan Consulate Gallery. New York City.
- 2001 - International Art Fair. Montreal, Canada.
- 2001 - Venezuelan Consulate Gallery, New York City.
- 2001 - Art Atlanta. Atlanta Convention Center.
- 2001 - Richards. Greenwich, Connecticut.
- 2000 - Décor Expo International, Jacob Javits Center. New York City.
- 2000 - Feria Iberoamericana de Arte. Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2000 - ArtBa Feria de Arte Contemporáneo. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2000 - Venezuelan Consulate Gallery, New York City.
- 1999 - Huntington Public Library, Huntington, New York.
- 1999 - Cosi Public Display. Huntington, New York.
- 1998 - Galleria Portal. Barcelona, Spain.
Source
- Julio Aguilera Artist's biography at the Venciclopedia.
External links
- Picasso net Gallery with some of Aguilera's work.
- Absolute Arts Review of exhibit in 2003.
- ArtAreas.com Gallery with some works of Aguilera.
- Image from the blue series.
- Image from the blue series.