20 x 20 on a 28 x 28 Sheet
Original Artwork
Acrylic on Paper
My name is Paul Lastra. I am an artist, based partly in Europe and partly in the US.
My previous career revolved around the world of corporate and investment banking yet from a reasonably early stage of my life I was encouraged by my father -a well-known publisher at the time- to appreciate art in general and more specifically world renowned painters and writers. This encouragement allowed me to be acquainted with artist painters like Picasso, Miró, Tapiès, Toledo, Rivera, Van Gogh, Juan Gris to name a few or writers like Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Shakespeare, Lord Byron, EE Cummings, Julio Cortázar, Eduardo Galeano... the list is endless.
As far as my paintings are concerned, I have always been fascinated by simplicity, by scarcity of matter, by textures and by the intensity of colors and forms. I tend to think that these few elements combined with different technical means ranging from acrylic paints or oil pastels to Chinese ink allow the viewer to interpret my work in different ways, at times with opposite intent. The aim nonetheless is to foster the viewer's imagination as the main driving force.
In summary, my work intends to be a visual and sensory testimony and material expression of all those secret thoughts that we do not dare to share openly. It is an orchestra of simple forms and colors representing instances, sentiments, interpretations -whether concrete or abstract, or both- of words, images, dreams, excitements or even fears recorded through time in our memory.
My collection, named "L'Éclat du Silence: A Festival of Lights and Shadows" (also available in Facebook, Vero or Wix) is indeed the silent voice of a festival of lights and shadows.
