Pésimo or Edwin Higuchi Fernández is one of the most renowned graffiti artists in South America with over 20 years of experience and hundreds of murals to his name. A central figure in the Peruvian urban art world, Pésimo has now painted in more than 40 cities around the globe including Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Hamburg, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, and Eindhoven.
For Spanish speakers, his pseudonym (Pésimo) quickly draws your attention, translated in English as “Dreadful.” Most of his pieces you find today will be signed this way though he has come to use different names over the course of his career. Starting with his initials “EHF,” he signed pieces in this way until he realized that several other artists he knew were using English names such as “Beast” or “Chaos,” so he began to use names in Spanish, like “Ácido” or “Sucio” until he finally settled on “Pésimo” just because he liked the sound of the word.
Pésimo grew up in a family of artists and had a big Japanese influence from his father, painter Oswaldo Higuchi Onaka. His mother was also a potter and his sisters were involved in painting and dancing. Pésimo began his street art career with lettering and was impressed with how street artists used spray techniques to achieve various effects and decided he wanted to do give it a try.
Eventually, Pésimo formed a collaborative duo with artist Entes, and together they began promoting urban art in their country through events such as Latidoamericano. Some time later, they started taking their techniques to the streets of neighboring countries, allowing them to develop as artists. In 2017, this duo broke up but Pésimo hasn’t stopped painting.
In his work, faces in profile stand out as a defining characteristic. Pésimo says he does this for several reasons; first, it helps him to finish pieces more quickly, but more importantly, he feels that depicting characters in profile makes them more approachable and less invasive to people viewing them on the street. Faces have been the main engine of his work and there has been much evolution in the way he depicts them over time. He feels this helps him transmit a certain sense of humanity through his art. Pésimo’s most recent works can be found on his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/pesimo93