EminEnt Domain abode & Beyond
Throughout the house, artworks and antiques from different eras form a dreamlike composition reminiscent of the artist’s own fanciful paintings.
decades with his wife, local interior designer Pilar Larraz, and three children. Now, however, Larraz— who is recognized as one of the most notable Latin American artists on the international stage today (the average price for his work hovers around $250,000 per piece)—lives in a stately old home in Coral Gables, where his worldly mix of furnishings and art fit perfectly, like hand in glove. These antiques and curios—from different eras and disparate places—also offer glimpses into the imagination of their owner, as they coalesce here in a dreamlike composition, not unlike one of the artist’s fanciful paintings. Larraz’s journey around the world began many
210 oceandrive.com
years ago in Havana, Cuba, where he was born and raised before moving to Washington, DC, with his parents in 1964, when he was just 16 years old. The son of a newspaper publisher, he began to draw at a very early age and later, after moving to New York, he started his career drawing political caricatures for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Vogue magazine, among other publications. His early illustration work eventually evolved into the paintings he’s become known for and continues to create in his studio—a former farm equipment shed—not far from his home. “The images that take shape in my paintings and sculptures come to me in dreams, sometimes
daydreams,” explains Larraz, whose most recent works were shown at a solo exhibition at Art Basel in Miami Beach last year. “I have the ability to see things clearly in my mind, to visualize images of objects and people. The things in my paintings or sculptures, they’re all invented by me.” Some of his paintings also hang on the walls of his home alongside works by fellow artists, like Sandro Chia, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, and Marino Marini, and together—along with the furnishings and objets—hint at the story of Larraz’s colorful life. A 19th-century Swedish clock and a cowhide-covered Colombian settee, for example, CoNTINued oN Page 212
photography by Justin namon/ra-haus
“IT’s as Close To lIVINg IN a house IN mY home CouNTrY as I CaN geT.” —julio larraz