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Arts / Galleries

Artist Who Escaped Cuba With His Family Brings His Surreal Dreams to Houston — Julio Larraz At 80 Years Old

Fantastical Visions at Bayou City's Art of the World Gallery

BY // 10.10.24

Renowned Cuban surrealist painter Julio Larraz is marking his memorable 80th birthday with an exhibition celebrating his life’s work at Houston’s Art of the World Gallery. Fittingly named “80 Circumnavigations of the Sun,” the exhibition features 32 of Larraz’s paintings, including his vibrant, newest works. It is on view through Saturday, October 19.

Born in 1944 to the owners of Cuba’s leading newspaper La Discusión, in Havana, Julio Larraz’s childhood was marked by political expression and activism before his family fled their homeland, claiming asylum in the United States. Initially, Larraz became a political cartoonist, crafting caricatures for major outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times and Vogue magazine. Larraz transitioned to painting in 1967, incorporating his artful political commentary into striking images of seaside scenes and life in the Caribbean.

Burnt Out, The Story of Icarus, 2023 Art of the World Gallery
Julio Larraz’s “‘Burnt Out,’ The Story of Icarus,” 2023, at Art of the World Gallery. (Courtesy of Art of the World Gallery)

Ahead of a retrospective examining his artistic works, Larraz told his biographer David Ebony: “I’m not a storyteller. . . I paint because I want to see the dream.”

The fantastical quality of Larraz’s paintings can place viewers in a trance-like state. From paintings retelling the legend of Icarus to ships sailing through the legs of an unseen giant, art lovers are transported through dreamscapes. 

Entering An Art Dream

In “80 Circumnavigations of the Sun,” the landscapes are also painted with keen attention to detail. Yet, the faces of Larraz’s fictional characters, many of whom serve as social commentary on class and unnecessary pomp, are distorted. Viewers are made to feel that they can pinpoint exactly where they are as they peer into Larraz’s view of the world, yet who they are looking at is kept in the abstract.

Anyone and everyone is worth being critiqued for their frivolity.

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Julio Larraz’s “The British are Coming,” 2022 Art of the World Gallery
Julio Larraz’s “The British are Coming,” 2022, at Art of the World Gallery. (Courtesy of Art of the World Gallery)

Art of the World co-owners Mauricio Vallejo and Liliana Molina are excited to be hosting Larraz’s latest works again, commemorating his storied career. 

“The striking works of Julio Larraz are like romantic, nostalgic, political and luxurious stamps,” the Art of the World co-owners note in a statement. “They depict sophisticated men and women from a bourgeois world that has now vanished, perhaps from pre-revolutionary Cuba. This exhibition offers a full spectrum of the themes the artist has painted throughout his brilliant career.”

Julio Larraz’s “80 Circumnavigations of the Sun” is on view at Art of the World Gallery through Saturday, October 19. 

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