Visionary Artists at Caya Shobo
At Caya Shobo we work closely with several accomplished Ayahuasca Visionary Artists who generously provide their expert tuition to our program retreat guests, and for whom we hold immense respect and gratitude and are proud to call our friends.
These artists paint in the Neo-Amazonico style – reflecting the artists’ experiences of the sacred worlds of Ayahuasca and the relationship of the Shaman with the mysterious and mythological spirits of the deep Amazonian jungle – the animals, rivers, skies, birds and magical plant spirits that teach and foster our human connection with the cosmic consciousness and the transformational journey of dissolution and renewal of the self.
Look at our upcoming Ayahuasca Retreats (General Program and Visionary Artist Retreats only) for more info about receiving training from these creative maestros while exploring the world of Ayahuasca at Caya Shobo.
Below we present a selection of some of the artists’ work with links through to each individual artists’ website or Facebook page where you can submit orders for prints or get in direct contact with the artist.
Luis Tamani Amasifuen
Luis Tamani is one of Peru’s pre-eminent visionary artists who grew up on the banks of the Ucayali River near Pucallpa, surrounded by a rainforest wonderland of plants, trees, animals and birds, and immersed in the medicine world of Ayahuasca from a young age.
He studied Art at the Eduardo Meza Saravia Escuela Superior de Formacion Artistica in Pucallpa, whose Shipibo founder Sr Meza was one of the greatest proponents of Amazonian painting and a teacher of the Neo-Amazonico, figurative, surrealist, shamanic style.
Tamani’s work incorporates an exquisitely fine detail of brush and the use of naturalistic colours and composition that endow his paintings with an ancient, soulful, elegance and powerfully communicate his philosophies of love and Oneness. He has exhibited his works throughout South America, Europe and the United States and is increasingly becoming recognized as one of the best visionary painters of our time.
Juan Carlos Taminchi
Juan Carlos Taminchi started drawing and painting at the age of 8, expressing his passion for the natural environment and its influence on his imagination and dreams. Later, in seeking to develop his artistic skills he discovered the sacred Amazonian medicine plants and the path of shamanism which allowed him to more deeply access his inner visionary worlds and to form his own unique style and philosophy of expression.
The brilliant and impactful quality of his paintings reflect his sensitive connection with all of nature, of the energetic vibrations of the Earth, of the guardian spirits that live in every place, and of each plant and animal, and their unique ways of sharing their medicine with us. He is also inspired by the divine triangle represented in Renessaince-era art, and by the exchange of knowledge he has enjoyed with the peoples and places of the North and other cultures.
Taminchi studied at the Pucallpa School of Arts and later became a teacher of the school. His works have been exhibited in Peru, the United States, and Europe, and he often conducts live painting performances at events and concerts all around the world. He is one of Peru’s most distinguished and promising young artists.
Mauro Reategui Perez
Mauro Perez was born in Mariscal Castilla and studied with renowned Amazonian shaman and artist Pablo Amaringo at the Usko-Ayar Amazonian School of Painting in Pucallpa, graduating in 1995. Today he is one of Peru’s most well known and sought after visionary artists.
Perez’s paintings portray a vibrant and richly detailed cosmovision from his own personal spiritual journeys with Ayahuasca and his learnings from Peruvian shamans of the divine path of creation and healing with the Amazonian plant medicines. His works have been exhibited throughout Peru, Europe and North America.
Perez also has an extensive knowledge of the cultural life of the tribal peoples of the Amazon and is a highly regarded teacher of their way of life.
Ruysen Flores Venancino
Ruysen Venancino is a talented and promising young visionary artist who hails from the Ucayali region in Peru and whose paintings powerfully reflect his life experiences growing in the Amazonian rainforest and his spiritual journeys into the magical realms of Ayahuasca.
Venancino paints in the classic Neo-Amazonico style and beautifully employs the use of color and light to achieve a serene balance of realism and shamanic mysticism. His work has been exhibited throughout Peru, and online and we look forward to celebrating the development of this bright young talent.
Rafael was born into a family of Ayahuasca Curanderos in the Shipibo village of Santa Rosa de Dinamarca, 5 hours journey by riverboat to the south of Pucallpa. Growing up immersed in the world of Ayahuasca, he observed his parents and the men and women of his extended family always working in healing ceremonies and guiding plant dietas. At the age of 18, his curiosity to learn more about this path inspired him to open his first plant dieta, and he has since been learning and dieting with different master plants over the past 15 years.
Meeting Walter you immediately recognize his natural warmth and humility as a person, as well as his impressive capability as an experienced Onánya Maestro healer. His beautiful, lower toned voice and variety of melodic Icaros can transport you to a place of peace and reconciliation with your life’s experiences and your healing path. Walter is always solid in the middle of the storm.
Maestra Maricela is a highly experienced Shipiba Onánya curandera and Raomi herbalist. Born in the Alto Ucayali river village of Roya, south of Pucallpa, her father Nicolas Vardales is a well known Shipibo medicine man with a strong famileal lineage of medicine knowledge. At age 13, in receiving treatment for some serious health issues of her own, Maricela began to learn about the healing properties of Amazonian medicine plants. She continued dieting with different master plants until she started working with Ayahuasca in her early 30’s.
Immersed in the medicine world her entire life, Maestra Lucinda is the eldest daughter of renowned Shipibo Onánya Maestro Pascual Mahua Ochavano, born in the Shipibo village of Paoyhan or ‘Water of the Pearls’ located on the banks of the beautiful Ucayali river, north of Pucallpa. When she was a tiny infant of 4 months old her father opened her first learning dieta to bring her the advanced knowledge of the Noya Rao “Tree of light” of her ancestors.
Orlando also belongs to the famous family Mahua. His great-grandfather Manuel Mahua was renowned as one of the most powerful Onánya shaman in the entire history of the Shipibo tribe. Manuel’s daughter Manuela, grandmother to Orlando, is also a well – known living Onánya Maestra. Manuela brought up Orlando from early childhood and opened his first medicine plant dieta at age 7. 
Fernando Levi, also born in the village of Paoyhan, is the grandson of Pascual Mahua, and, like his father, his grandfather and many generations before him, Fernando has inherited the Shipibo name “Sani Piko” which means “The Great Medicine Men.” This legacy of ancestral knowledge and the discipline Fernando has brought to developing its power within himself is clearly evident in his Icaros, in his medicine and also in his extensive knowledge of master plant dieta for healing and learning.
Francisco (or Pancho) has been working with the Shipibo medicine path since his early 40’s, and is now in his late 60s.
As a teenager, Pablo felt the call of the medicine, but without access to knowledgeable teachers in his own family or community, he pursued his own learning path with Ayahuasca in the way of the ancient Shipibo Maestro Onánya – by entering the jungle alone and following the call of the plants in isolation dieta.