TESTIMONIALES

LUIS TÉLLEZ KUENZLER
President of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV)

“The Mexican Stock Exchange is pleased to present Esencia, an exhibition of Karla de Lara’s work. The title (meaning ‘essence’) is an appropriate one for this artist from Jalisco who is helping to sustain the mid-twentieth century movement known as pop art. Andy Warhol, a well-known proponent of the movement, posed the question: ‘Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?’ This is precisely the effect that Karla de Lara achieves in her pieces, by colorfully and boldly redefining icons from popular culture. Warhol also said that being good at business is the most fascinating type of art, a notion that goes hand in hand both with the BMV’s mission and Karla de Lara’s career. Karla de Lara has found a way to successfully combine art and design, as did Roy Lichtenstein, Warhol and other leading pop art figures. This combination of skills, along with her capacity to appeal to diverse audiences, make Karla de Lara one of Mexico’s most internationally renowned artists.

Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Latin America, Europe, the United States, the Middle East and, of course, Mexico. Her pieces have been acquired by a geographically diverse range of renowned collectors. This exhibition exemplifies Grupo BMV’s mission to promote the best in contemporary art from Mexico and around the world. We hope you enjoy it.”

SANDRO SERRADIFALCO
Art PhD and Curator / Palermo, Italy

“One language, many languages. The experimental, volcanic will of Karla de Lara leads her to delve deep into stylistic themes. Refusing to limit herself to portraying her surroundings, she digs well below the surface of things. Somewhere between pop and abstract expressionism, Karla’s pictorial dialect embodies the legacy of twentieth century artistic experience. In her ambition to communicate through a highly versatile and imaginative register, she triumphs with mastery. She puts forward kaleidoscopic revaluations of figurative elements and a skillful reworking of diverse stylistic pieces fused into interpretative assemblages. The result is a powerful visual projection containing bright and contrasting colors. Karla understands the value and expressive power of images. She is a great interpreter whose range goes from figuration to the extremism of real objects; from photographic styling to the tonal virtuosity of pieces in which reality is distorted in a positive way. One language, many languages. Karla de Lara unmasks thoughts and souls, revealing an inner world that is nothing other than the projection of her generous artistic essence.

Within an artist’s work, there is no place for indecisiveness. Her steadfast mastery of technique transforms energy into dense pictorial movement. Her incisive brushstrokes bring to light an uninterrupted emotional flow where observers perceive the world through her gaze and penetrate it by means of her subjectivity. They follow a pathway of sensations that eclipse the precise alternation of textures of meanings, and that initially can only be perceived by an alchemist of color.”

SALVATORE RUSSO
Art curator / Rome

“Through a new pictorial genre known as hyperrealistic pop art,’ Karla de Lara took her work to the international stage. Uncertainty, innocence, and essence are the themes she has focused on here. To explain Karla’s art, I’ll start with this quote by Vincent van Gogh: ‘I’d rather paint people’s eyes than cathedrals, for there’s something in the eyes that isn’t in the cathedral.’ Karla prefers the eyes of women and men over monumental symbols. Eyes that tell a story; eyes that reflect authentic emotions; eyes as a mirror to the soul. As Wassily Kandinsky said, ‘real works of art are born in the mysterious, enigmatic and mystical ways of the artist.’

Once separated from the artist, they acquire an autonomous life, a personality. They become independent and breathe on their own while also leading a real material life. They become beings. Karla de Lara’s work thus constitutes what, in my opinion, one could define as the pathways of the soul.”

ABITARE IL TEMPO
Magazine / Verona, Italy

“Karla de Lara’s work, through her masterful technique and use of vibrant colors, is an expression of her authentic character.”

ALEJANDRA DEL RÍO
Art dealer, Cultural Manager / Mexico City

“Trying to write about the work of such a versatile artist as Karla de Lara is always a challenge. I have borne witness to her monumental artistic evolution since 2012, when our collaboration began with the launch of Mayan Parade, an ambitious brand art project. Back then, Karla de Lara was already a leading figure in Jalisco’s artistic community. She had 20 years of experience in the international art circuit, having gotten her art noticed at top international venues such as the Phillips Collection in New York and at international fairs such as Maison & Objet in Paris and Art Basel in Miami.

Over time, Karla de Lara established herself as one of Mexico’s most internationally renowned artists, and today she is a proud spokesperson for the México se pinta solo campaign, which promotes her country worldwide. This unique artist has gravitated towards abstract expressionism, hyperrealism, symbolism, pop art and other styles, all of which she has successfully made her own. She always makes her mark using her own original techniques, which are highly attractive owing to the intricacy of her brushstrokes. Over the past 6 years, Karla de Lara has reached a point of maturity as a visual artist and begun to travel the world, reaping success in each city where she has exhibited. And as of 2018 she is the only living artist included in the exclusive collection at the Castillo de Chapultepec Museum in Mexico City. Karla de Lara has become the great chronicler of her world. She has refined her hyperrealistic technique to such a degree that her monumental works capture both the paradigms of everyday urban scenes and the secrets of the characters appearing in her work. The subtlety of her chiaroscuro pieces, the humanity of her expression, the lasciviousness of her brushstrokes which unleash the sensuality of ordinary shapes and her commitment to detail are qualities that both astonish viewers and envelop them in a world of emotions and recollections.”

ARTEMIO GARCÍA URIBE
Art Curator

“Karla de Lara took a break from the torrential river of comments regarding her creative capacity, whether positive or negative, in order to focus on defining her career path. Following a rather eventful period, she decided to get going, eager to contribute to art with all the congruence her spirit could muster. She adopted a powerful and logical strategy focused on moving forward, at a time when some of her contemporaries were trying to destabilize her winding, transformative and multifaceted career.

Her constant search and concern for originality has led her to discover previously unexplored styles. She toggles between figurative and abstract expression, as noted in her brushstrokes. Also noteworthy is her liberal use of contrast and color, which can be interpreted as an apparent naivety or spontaneity, combined with other styles.

Karla de Lara reflects in, partakes of and participates in art. She rotates her use of techniques and themes in a way that breathes life into her works. Her contribution to creativity is evidenced by her malleability and her ability to freely express herself on canvas. She is an artist totally focused on her creations.

In paying tribute to other artists, Karla de Lara digs deep into their worlds by portraying the spaces in which they create. She presents realistic images of artists’ studios which reflect their architecture. She also includes well-known works and personal objects, hoping to give viewers a comprehensive view of how the world once was from an artist’s perspective. Thus, viewers become immersed in the narrative of Karla de Lara’s pieces and through them experience a multitude of sensations. They then turn us into participants in her work. We are at once emitters and receivers.

Karla de Lara is an artist in constant resistance, who endeavors to express feelings and evoke visual happiness and reflection through her work.

She has successfully established dialogues between her pieces and viewers using visual spectrums that initially turn inwards only later to be projected outwards. Her pieces open the visual doors that are inherent to the corporal nature of painting. Karla de Lara believes in the importance of perseverance in art and has made it a guiding principle in her life.

She is a firm believer in her own virtuous connection to visual expression. Her creative process is therefore driven by her ardent desire to transcend. The search to find her career destination may take time, but it will be a constant search during which she will achieve transcendence as a visual artist. Hard work and dedication will shine through in the work of this artist who stands head and shoulders above her contemporaries, as evidenced by the collection of well-deserved awards she has won throughout her career.”

CHIARA STICCA
Karla de Lara’s representative in Europe

“Karla de Lara takes us to a dreamland filled with humanity, contrasts and emotions. This world is filled with both silence and the screams of tormented lives as interpreted by this gifted artist.

Her paintings are splendid chiaroscuro-inspired works whose faces pierce the canvas while displaying intense, scowling and penetrating looks that seem to follow and observe you. These are the looks that take silence and reflection as a point from which to enter your private spaces and reach into the depths of your soul.

Karla de Lara offers light, spirit and religiosity to faces marked by life’s suffering.

She introduces us to people who are timeless and captures their very essence.

Her work is hyperrealistic pop art taken to the extreme. Karla takes what is real to deeper levels of reality: wrinkles, symbols of time, dramatic faces contrasted with calm expressions, faces hiding behind laced masks, and faces clouded in smoke.

Karla de Lara is an artist who experiments and executes innovative pictorial techniques in ways that make her work brilliant.

She makes intelligent use of gray tones that intertwine yet remain distinct, and others that complement each other in an infinite range of chiaroscuro colors. Her portraits are painted in a non-canonical, austere way. They have classic qualities and exude a breathtaking naturalness that seems to have no beginning and no end. They exalt a life that transcends the flesh.”

JUAN CARLOS DE LARA
Representative

“To speak of Karla de Lara is to tell a story of perseverance, tenacity and, above all, passion. Throughout her career, I have seen her both grow as an artist and develop to become the person she is today. Time has rewarded her in every way imaginable.

Looking upon her artistic maturity and her career path, which has led her to become a leading figure in contemporary art, fills me with great pride. These have been years of walking by her side and bearing witness to her enormous capacity to create unequaled works of art. She demonstrates her exceptional capacity for creativity and reinvention on a daily basis. Proof of this is her technique, which she herself has developed, patented and put her own particular stamp onto. Her success continues and will undoubtedly continue for a long time to come. We know this because of the many awards that she has accumulated in recent years from around the world, as well as her exhibitions at both domestic and international venues.

Karla de Lara is an artist in love with love itself and with beauty, qualities that she brings out in all her pieces. An undeniable passion runs through the body of her work, where each brushstroke is a reflection of her experiences, her love of life and her eagerness to explore new paths. I can clearly see the talent, perseverance, transparency and simplicity that are within her. Her internal engine and energy are tireless.

These strengths guarantee her permanence, and they are sure to make her one of the art world’s most celebrated figures.

She keeps flying higher and higher, and there is no telling how high she will go. Her privileged position in the contemporary art scene will most likely extend to posterity. Karla de Lara is a source of pride for Mexico throughout the world.”

NEIMAN MARCUS
Jaime M. Sanz / Bal Harbour, Miami

“Her work is an expression of genuine character which reveals itself as a powerful wave of technique, color and vivid movement.”

MARK PHILLIPS
CEO, Phillips Collection

“Never in more than 30 years of searching for fine art have I come across a talent like the incredible Karla de Lara. Her originality, sensitivity and execution are unsurpassed. Karla de Lara’s work is beautiful and approachable. Her artistry makes any setting spectacular.”

ALEJANDRO COLUNGA
Artist

“Karla de Lara’s work is a breath of fresh air and creativity at a time when the country is going through a severe crisis and needs to believe in itself.”

FRANCISCO BARREDA
Art curator

“The rise of Karla de Lara’s art career has been meteoric, having amazed diehards and newcomers alike. Through her art, she unequivocally demonstrates how hard work, dedication, talent and imagination are the foundations of success.”

RAQUEL BESSUDO
PR and opinion leader, Mexico City

“Life has a way of putting you in the right place at the right time. That would be a good way to describe how I got to know the distinguished and world-renowned artist Karla de Lara. I had the good fortune to discover her magnificent art and thus her extraordinary work in the field of AESTHETICS, fittingly expressed here in capital letters.

Karla de Lara reinvents herself every second of every day. She is uniquely unique, as is her art. I cannot help but consider myself a lucky person, as I am able to rejoice in both her many and well-deserved awards and in her exceptional talent.

Karla de Lara can create everything from beautiful paintings to the most exotic sculptures. She is a woman of and for all times. And she is one of the most endearing and privileged people I have ever known. Congratulations to a truly great artist in every sense of the word.”