What a great opening on February 13 at Marlborough Gallery for the exhibition of recent work by the Cuban- born American painter, Julio Larraz. This will be Larraz’s fourth exhibition in New York since joining the gallery in 2000. The exhibition features approximately 24 large paintings on canvas and 4 watercolors and pastels on paper.
Stylistically, Larraz’s work may be characterized by simplicity of touch, dramatic lighting, sensuous colors, exaggerated scale, and a combination of reality and fantasy that is generally tropical in atmosphere. His subjects are often metaphors for such things as isolation, melancholy, the absurdity of power, or political intrigue. His paintings frequently incorporate Greek myths and legends, art history dialogues, and contemporary history.
Many of the pieces included in this exhibition embody an overarching characteristic of Larraz’s work: he creates a strong nar- rative element with latent implications that go beyond what is represented on the canvas. The critic Christofer Finch wrote, “a constant in Larraz’s art is the always ambiguous interaction between man and nature… Larraz has a virtuoso’s ability to conjure up the physical world. Beyond this he takes a poet’s delight in evoking imaginary universes, so that every image seems to take on a special significance in the context of the whole, as if it has been plucked from some epic that has yet to be written.”
Article by: Jamie Martinez
Photos by: Vincent Zambrano
www.marlboroughgallery.com
