Raul Lara Torrez
Raúl Lara Torrez (December 17, 1940 - August 22, 2011) was a Bolivian painter and muralist whose works have high social content. He won different prizes including the "Bicentennial of the birth of the liberator Simón Bolívar" and the first place of the II Biennial of Art INBO.
Raúl Lara Torrez was born on December 17, 1940 at the San José de Oruro mining center. He started in the arts at age 11 in the workshop of his brother Gustavo Lara, nine years older than him, who lent him some watercolors and gave him a landscape to paint. Raúl Lara Torrez showed his brother his talent immediately. At age 14 he moved to northern Argentina where he made an exhibition with the folklore theme of Oruro and Jujuy. Thanks to this show the poet Domingo Zerpa invited him to live with him in Buenos Aires.
In 1957 he studied in the workshops of the Stimulus Association of Buenos Aires and in 1959 he joined the Spartacus Group. He won a scholarship for the National Fine Arts Fund at the "Ernesto de la Cárcoba" School of Fine Arts where he specialized in mural painting experimenting with different techniques and then becoming a professor in it.
During the decade of 1970 his brother Rafael Lara was assassinated by the Argentine dictatorship what causes that Raul Lara Torrez and his brother return to Bolivia
Raul Lara Torrez died on August 22, 2011 of cancer.
The way of painting by Raúl Lara Torrez, is imaginative, a little symbolic, as if everything taken from a dream, the paintings that Raúl Lara Torrez draws reflect a suffering not alien to reality, his inspiration was Vincent van Gogh to whom he dedicated homage.
Exhibitions
He made numerous solo exhibitions. Some significant are the following:
1954 First solo exhibition in the Hall of the Popular Library of Jujuy, Argentina.
1959 Gallery of "New Theater". Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1970 National Museum of Arts. La Paz, Bolivia. Technical University of Oruro, Bolivia.
1980 EMUSA Cultural Foundation Gallery. La Paz, Bolivia.
1984 "Current Art". Santiago of Chile.
1985 Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC). Montevideo, Uruguay. Gallery "Praxis". Buenos Aires,
1990 "Wilfredo Lam Center". Havana Cuba.
1994 "Arte Actual" Homage to Nemesio Antúnez. Santiago of Chile.
1994 Gallery "Es Art" La Paz, Bolivia. Among other.
He also made group exhibitions, such as the following:
1955 National Salon of Art Students "Eva Perón". Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1960 With the "Grupo Espartaco", Van Riel Gallery, "Velázquez", "Witcom" Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1964 Municipal Museum "Eduardo Sivori", Municipal Hall "Manuel Belgrano". Buenos Aires,
1965 "Exhibition homage of the Argentine painters to Vietnam", Van Riel Gallery. Argentina.
1970 Rubinstein Gallery, with "Grupo Jujuy", Mar del Plata, Salta, Rosario, Jujuy - Argentina.
1971 Provincial Hall "Antonio Fernández Otero". Jujuy, Argentina.
1972 Salón Noroeste Argentino. Jujuy, Argentina.
Raul Lara Torrez 1940 - 2011
Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA