Armond Lara:
A Shifting Retrospective

form & concept | June 2023

Armond Lara: A Shifting Retrospective presents selections from Armond Lara's rich and varied oeuvre, many of which have been hidden from public view for decades. An elaborate display of intricate marionette puppets hangs among abstract sculptures and figurative paintings. Throughout the show, artworks on view will cycle, allowing the public to experience the full arc of the octogenarian artist's half-century career.

Armond Lara (b. 1939) was born to Diné and Mexican parents in Walsenburg, Colorado, where he spent his formative years observing the ways that his mother and grandparents met their own needs through artistic endeavors. “I watched my grandparents make everything they needed, from tombstones to cooking utensils, so I just fell into it naturally,” recounts Lara, “If I wanted something, I made it.”

This seed of creativity that was planted in the young artist continued to grow through his early career in Seattle, where he worked in aviation technology and arts administration. He studied under master paper artist Paul Horiuchi and came to count Helen Frankenthaler and Richard Diebenkorn as mentors. 

“Armond Lara is a prolific artist whose ouevre poses complex questions about performance, identity and culture," says Gallery Director Jordan Eddy. "Lara’s playful sensibility and penchant for material innovation have set his practice apart for decades as his works remain challenging but accessible through the synthesis of craft aesthetics and popular culture.”

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