Julio Larraz

AMERINGER | McENERY | YOHE is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings by Julio Larraz. The exhibition will open on 15 October 2015 and will remain on view through 14 November 2015. A public reception for the artist will be held on 15 October from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by Donald Kuspit.

Julio Larraz paints deeply layered satires of art and life. He is a visual philosopher interchanging reality and imagination. Without being hyper-realistic, fragments of scenes are revealed with abundant descriptions.

Larraz’s paintings are dominated by imposing landscapes, powerful seas, enigmatic space scenes, and elegant individuals wearing resplendent attire that call into question the meaning of beauty.

His use of luminous, scintillating, completely translucent light is attributed to that of the tropics, a subject which reflects Larraz’s passionate attachment to his Cuban, Latin American identity.

These images come to him as if in a dream and his
works are a continuous attempt to capture them before they disappear.

Again and again we are compelled to visualize objects, people, and places that are not present in his compositions. We are asked to complete the narrative.

JULIO LARRAZ (b. 1944 in Havana, Cuba) is the son of a newspaper editor and began drawing at a very early age. After moving to the United States in 1961, Larraz began to draw political caricatures that were published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Vogue Magazine, among others. In 1967, he turned his attention solely towards painting.

He has had numerous solo exhibitions, such as “Rules of Engagement,” Contini Art UK, London, England; “Two Hundred Years in Power,” Galeria Arteconsult, Panama City, Panama (in collaboration with Ascaso Gallery, Miami, FL); “Coming Home,” Ascaso Gallery, Miami, FL; “Omaggio Julio Larraz,” Contini Galleria D’Arte, Venice, Italy; “Julio Larraz,” Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY; “Julio Larraz,” Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy (in collaboration with Contini Galleria D’Arte, Venice, Italy); and “Julio Larraz,” The Bellevue, Biarritz, France (in collaboration with Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY).

Recent group exhibitions include “Los Imaginarios Urbanos,” Galeria Enlace—Arte Contemporáneo, Lima, Peru; Ascaso Gallery, Art Wynwood, Miami, FL; “Caribbean: Crossroads of the World,” Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL; “Papertrail,” Latin American Masters, Santa Monica, CA; and “FIA,” Galería de Arte Ascaso, Caracas, Venezuela.

Larraz has been the recipient of many awards from Center for the Arts and Education, New York, NY; FACE, Miami, FL; the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; and Instituto de Educación Internacional, New York, NY.

In addition, his work may be found in many public and private collections, including Archer M. Huntington Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, TX; Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogatá Colombia; Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA; American Express Bank, Paris, France; First Pennsylvania Bank, Philadelphia, PA; and World Bank, Washington D.C.

Julio Larraz lives and works in Miami, FL.