Julio Larraz: Major Works

About

Larraz learned to paint from studying the paintings by great masters in the collections of museums in New York as he never had a formal training. He began his career as a caricaturist for major magazines and newspapers such as Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and the New York Times where he learned to capture the instance with humor and create works capturing the illusive moment.

At first Larraz was influenced by Hopper as he worked in Nyack, learning to capture light in his work, which would become one of his most salient effects. The influence of the Spanish masters, Francis Bacon and modern technology are evident in his triptych Cross Fire as a man seems to be shot by a light beam.

Larraz’ dark side also appears in Sincerely Yours. Born in Cuba and the son of a newspaper man, the foyer of his home always had a fire arm as the police would often enter the premises. The honesty and straight-forwardness of this composition is enforced upon the viewer while the pleasant palette reassures us of its aesthetic power.

His still-life works often allude to ships passing by. His sense of humor is evident in Detail, where a pan becomes a vessel and the bread a canon. In Total Eclipse, the first of this group, a still life is converted into a celestial universe.

In Approach to the Azores, Larraz’ curiosity with abstraction appears. His clouds stem from his love of abstract art. He feels in them he is the closest to abstraction. Often the negative spaces and the minimal number of objects are what make the compositions most interesting.

He infuses his works with humor and a magical realism where nothing is what it seems and the fleeting moment will escape us, giving different answers to what is happening and keeping us in suspense of what is really going on. In The Main Attraction of the Circo Miguelito Larraz combines several of his themes: humor, canons, clouds, arenas.

He infuses his works with humor and a magical realism where nothing is what it seems and the fleeting moment will escape us giving different answers to what is happening and keeping us in suspense of what is really going on.