The Belgian-Peruvian painter Shirley Villavicencio Pizango is conquering the art world with her honest and colorful portraits of people of color. She always depicts a domestic environment, where houseplants, ceramics, and other personal objects flourish as abundantly as in the jungle. Recently, Shirley, together with Serax, released a collection of hand-painted vases that bring the pottery from her paintings to life. We visited her studio, which is just as colorful as her artworks.
Shirley has just returned from New York, where she exhibited together with her gallerist Sofie Van de Velde at the legendary art fair The Armory Show. Her workspace is located in Ghent. “It is a small and cozy studio filled with the many curiosities I collect during my travels,” says Shirley. “I find it very important to seek inspiration when I travel. My collection of African masks, for example, means a lot to me. The influence of African art on European art cannot be underestimated.”
The studio feels homely, which comes as no surprise. Shirley paints portraits of friends and acquaintances, and in her paintings she surrounds the sitters with an abundance of domestic objects, from houseplants to ceramics. “Plants are essential to me because they represent my connection to the Amazon rainforest,” she explains. “The rest comes from my travels. From Japan I often bring ceramics, from Morocco tiles, and in the flea markets of Paris I hunt for curiosities.” These objects inspire the imaginative ceramics in her paintings. Together with Serax, and at the request of her gallerist Sofie Van de Velde, Shirley has brought these vases to life one by one. In doing so, the circle is complete.
In her work, one senses a love for new worlds and the tropics. Shirley grew up with her single mother in Santiago de Borja, a small village along a tributary of the Amazon River. Later, she lived in the Peruvian capital, Lima. At eighteen, she moved to Ghent, where she studied art and was invited to further develop her talent at the HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts). “Santiago de Borja is still the place where I feel at home, where my family lives, and where I reconnect with nature,” she explains. The atmosphere of ancient South American cultures, full of color and life, but also of stillness and melancholy, resonates throughout her work.
Shirley often paints portraits of people of color. In doing so, she makes a statement against the underrepresentation of minorities in art and voices criticism of the way Black people have been depicted throughout history. In the last century, many renowned painters traveled to the tropics to portray women as exotic beings. With Shirley, it is this so-called exotic woman who takes the lead. “I want to break through stereotyping and depict people of color as real human beings, with a strong will and a unique identity.”
The main reason for her success lies in her expressionist style of painting. Shirley builds her works with thick, rough contour lines and almost naïvely painted fields of color. “It’s difficult to say exactly when I started painting and how my style developed,” she says. “I think it came gradually. At school, I began experimenting with different techniques, and at a certain point I discovered acrylic paint.” Acrylic paint is a more playful medium than, for example, oil paint. Shirley has carried this same playfulness into the vases of the Serax collection.
Shirley is part of the new wave of female painters who are rapidly gaining popularity. Her work is highly appreciated, especially by a new generation of art lovers. The artist also owes much of this success to Gallery Sofie Van de Velde. The renowned gallery organized a solo exhibition in 2024 and presented her work at various art fairs, including the prestigious BRAFA. Shirley’s work is currently featured in the exhibition Painting After Painting at S.M.A.K. in Ghent. While her career began in Belgium, she also credits her village Santiago de Borja and her mother for her success. “Without Santiago de Borja, I would not exist. Moreover, I feel more like a Pizango — my mother’s surname — than a Villavicencio — my father’s surname. The Pizangos are strong, full of life, and we are connected to nature.”
