Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:00
The Divine and his machine. Photo by Amanda Figueroa.
José Pizarro is a poet. Since 1984 —when he received a revelation and decided to change his life— he´s called himself The Antichrist, which for him means "Christ´s representative." They say (as well as José) that he studied three years at the Universidad Católica School of Law in Valparaíso, until he was expelled for twice failing a "Liguistic Trends" course.
José Pizarro has roamed the streets of the Lastarria neighborhood for years. Dressed as if he were a woman, with a skirt and a scarf on his head, he used to set up his shopping cart in Lastarria and sell random objects and his famous writings (typewritten), in which he shared his perspectives on various topics, principally politics.
He seldom walks the streets now, after being locked up at an ex-psychiatric clinic (Clínica Normita Fournet) in 2006 at the request of the new José Victorino Lastarria building´s real-estate company. Deplorable. Thanks to arrangements made by good friends in the neighborhood, Pizarro was freed. Since then, he is rarely seen in the area, however, I have seen him a couple times in the past two weeks.
José Pizarro writes about parallel realities, cherubs, archangels and people´s memories of past reincarnations. His recurrent themes are public employees, the Galician Spaniards and the Nazis…Ah, the Nazis, he has an entire story about nazis and hallucinogens.
I remember before he was in locked up, he used to yell things at people passing close by, something like insults, but really, they were his own beliefs spat out with the fury of discontent; nevertheless, he says that despite the material poverty he lives in, he sympathizes with the system, for this he is Divine. He likes to be called the Divine Antichrist.
José Pizarro writes well; maybe his ideas can seem absurd, ridiculous, senseless, but the form in which he expresses himself is clear and makes you want to keep reading. He strives to create books, treatises, poetry, writing in general, to sell or give away. He talks about his inventions, the rights for rain, which belong to him—if a country wants rain they have to pay him— he says that Jesus Christ told him he no longer wanted to be called Jesus Christ because there are too many "bad" people with that name: Jesús Romero, Jesús Sepúlveda, etc., so now, he wants to be called Sir Demon with "Escrupulísimo," the most scrupulous.
José Pizarro writes and speaks with many superlatives. When he´s not writing, he occupies his imagination with elaborate future projects, in which he considers selling cars by the meter, emergency rockets for helicopters and atomic submarines, among other ideas. "Excelentísimo," most excellent.
José Pizarro, The Divine Antichrist, is one of those beings that, who if you really listen to, provokes you to question reality as you know it. He speaks with such conviction about what he believes, and lives in such accordance, that many of the things he says creates a sense of terror within those of us who live in a limited and absolute world. Living freely and according to his convictions, claiming what he believes to be right, dragging around a shopping cart with all of his belongings, a creator who spreads his ideas through art and is condemned a madman…for this he was accused, locked up, because people are afraid, afraid to meet him in the street, afraid he may yell a couple of truths. People are afraid to find themselves and their own reality, and the Divine is an absolute example of the contrary.
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