Cuban American painter and sculptor Julio Larraz is known for his landscapes and portraits that depict life in the Caribbean often recovering Cuban cultural imagery to allude to political and social power and its systemic abuse.
Read MoreJulio Fernández Larraz began sketching at an early age, starting with caricatures of his schoolteachers. Larraz's parents had been political activists who owned and published the Cuban newspaper La Discusión.
After Fidel Castro's regime took over Cuba, Larraz and his family were exiled to the United States, fleeing first to Florida, followed by Washington, and eventually settling in New York. The artist was then only 16 years old and the experience marked him profoundly.
Known for their pointed observations and impeccable technique, Larraz's paintings and caricatures present critical but humorous observations of public personas and daily life drawing from Cuban landscape, cultural imagery, and autobiographical motifs.
A Surrealist influence, particularly Giorgio de Chirico, permeates Larraz's imaginative, often dreamlike scenes. The Spanish Baroque painting style is also apparent across Larraz's works, which are rendered with the same solemn decorum, characteristic of the naturalism that distinguished the Italian Caravaggisti of the late 16th century.
Arriving in New York in 1961, working under the name 'Julio Fernandez', Larraz started drawing political caricatures of figures like Richard Nixon and Mahatma Gandhi, which featured in publications such as the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.
Larraz's satirical illustration of Nixon depicted the U.S. President as Louis XIV, with the caption 'L'état c'est moi' (I am the State), which later appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
Larraz's portraits render realistic depictions of their subjects using subdued palettes, often showing partially concealed political figures gazing towards the viewer with disdain or engaged in displays of excessive wealth or power.
Even landscapes that appear to be based on harmless memories of place, such as Once Upon a Time (2020), which depicts a small observatory on a green peninsula, mid-ocean, is not devoid of conflict nor the threat of violence, as exemplified by two missile-like forms that cut across the otherwise innocuous scene.
In Near Miss (2017), a cannonball transpierces a weaved basket on a white podium sending its picnic contents flying through the air. While the American invasion of Cuba was deemed unsuccessful, Larraz's paintings suggest something fundamental was disrupted in the process, notably the fabric of everyday life.
Larraz started experimenting with sculpture in the 1980s, with equal concern for war and political power. Resulting sculptures such as the distorted bust Emperor V (2014) depicts the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, who expanded the Habsburg Empire into America, cast in bronze with a light blue patina, with downcast eyes and a V-shaped torso.
Similarly, in sculpted works like The Ark (2020), what appears to be Noah's ark from the Biblical flood cast in bronze, represents a barge formed from a weaved basket with a cork-like structure at its centre—a fragile vessel offering empty promises.
Julio Larraz is the 2011 recipient of the Gold Medal award, Casita Maria, Center for the Arts and Education, New York; the 1997 FACE award; the 1977 Purchase Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters; and the 1975 Cintas Grant from the Institute of International Education, New York.
Julio Larraz's works have been shown widely in Europe, America, South America, Asia, and the U.K.
Select solo exhibitions include: Galeria Duque Arango, Columbia (2020); Ascaso Gallery, Miami (2019); Galleria D'arte Contini, Venice (2018); Miles McEnery Gallery, New York (2018); Museum of Art, Florida (2017); Art Basel Miami (2015); Contini Art UK, London (2014); and Marlborough Gallery, Madrid (2010).
Selected group exhibitions include: Art Miami (2019); The Rockwell Museum, New York (2019); Art Busan, South Korea (2019); KIAF Art Seoul (2018); Perez Art Museum, Miami (2014); Miami Sculpture Biennale (2010); and Art Basel (2004).
The artist lives and works in Miami, Florida, United States.
The artist's website can be found here, his instagram here.
Elaine YJ Zheng | Ocula | 2022
