Columbae - Painting, Image Transfer and the Coexistence of Selves
Artist statement
In Columbae, I bring together two overlapping representations of a female figure. One is painted in colour; the other appears in photographic monochrome. They share a pale, textured ground, while crossed arms and repeated hands draw the composition inward. I am interested in how these presences can occupy the same space without becoming a single, resolved identity.
I work with oil, acrylic, gesso and image transfer on canvas. The transfer is not simply an image placed beneath the painting: its interruptions, losses and irregular edges help determine what the painting becomes. Colour, photographic fragments and relief meet on one surface, so that the process remains visible rather than disappearing behind a seamless representation.
The relationship between the figures is deliberately left open. I do not intend one to explain the other. Instead, their coexistence offers a way of considering the distance between an outward image and an inner experience that may be less immediately visible. Looking closely at the surface reveals further breaks and transitions; looking from a distance brings the figures together again. That movement between intimacy and separation is central to the work.
Bio:
Raúl Lara is a figurative artist based in Morón de la Frontera, Seville, Spain. His practice combines oil, acrylic, gesso and photographic image transfer to explore identity, memory and transformation. Overlapping figures, contrasts between colour and monochrome, and visible traces of the making process connect outward appearance with inner experience. His career includes exhibitions in New York, London and Paris.
Portfolio: RaulLara.net
