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Melitòn Rivera Espinoza, the second of three brothers, was born in Huàcar in the province of Chancay (Peru) in a small village in the Peruvian Andes. As a child, roaming alone through the silence of the deep abysses of these mountains, he discovers Pre-Columbian constructions that will remain an unsolved mystery for a long time; feels a strong attraction mixed with a little fear; detects an intense smell which frightens him. At the age of seven he makes his first toys out of wood and discovers his manual dexterity; at the same time, he feels unhappy, misunderstood by his family and dreams of leaving for far away, a desire which grows day by day. In 1956 he finishes primary school, is 12 years old, and he asks his father to take him to Lima to continue his studies. In 1958, finally in the big city, he lives with a family, working for them by day and studying by night; his real adventure had begun and it wouldn't be very easy; he changes family four times. In 1960 he goes to work in a stationary shop, he's 14 years old, living independently with his elder brother. In 1961 he changes job and works for a printer, discovering his first art book which arouse a particular emotion within him. In 1962 he finds work in the pubblicity department od a furnishing shop, at the same time continuing with the last years of his Media studies; at the time he is invited to watch a film at the National Academy of Fine Arts. There he has his first encounter with the art that would definitely marks his destiny.
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