Julio Aguilera

While at the Instituto Pedagógico, Julio enrolled himself in the academy of Chan Lee Kam Fai, one of Venezuela's most renowned martial arts training academies.,[3] unbeknownst Julio, he would later become the future president of the Venezuelan Federation of Chinese Martial Arts and the International Hung Sing Choy Li Fat Chan Kim Fay.

In July, 1978, Aguilera earned the black belt in the Choy Lay Fut Kung-Fu style,[5] and during that and the following year he participated in several international competitions and exhibitions, including the Muay Thai World Championship in Manila, Philippines, the Barehand Championship in China and the International Martial Arts Open of Puerto Rico, which he won in 1979.

After a brief stay in New York City, in 1985 Julio moved to Diamond Bar, California, and opened another martial arts academy under the name "Eagle Lighting".

During the following years he flirted with corporate America and the tried opening a few businesses himself, but the Californian success didn't repeat in New York City, where he divorced Janice Touht in 2001.

[citation needed] Aguilera promoted these pieces through web forums and the Venezuelan Consulate in New York, and by 2000 his work had been exhibited in Spain, Argentina and Venezuela in sold-out shows.

And according to the art critic Ed McCormack, Managing Editor of Gallery & Studio Magazine, "more than any other artist in the Hispanic Diaspora, Aguilera has brought new blood, so to speak, to that still vital tradition, which came to encompass not only the spirit of Spain but all the antique cultural booty that the canny old pirate, Picasso, looted from France Italy and the North.