Joaquín Lara

Joaquín Lara painter and photographer.

It all began in the eighties. After passing through the Faculty of Information Sciences, Joaquin Lara began his career in photography, publishing in the magazine Muscaria, with Oscar Amézaga, Roge Blasco, Roberto Moso, etc. He soon realised that he was more interested in artistic photography than in journalism. He began to wander around different workshops in Bilbao, Pepe Barceló, Roscubas where he met Carmelo Camacho and Fernando Biderbost where he immediately fell in love with painting, starting to paint professionally in Fernando's studio "La Hispano Suiza". From there it wasn't long before he started to exhibit his work, both individually and collectively, and he started to take part in competitions, with the occasional success, which gave him some encouragement to continue. At the end of the eighties he managed to enter the Arteleku workshops with Frederic Amat, which completely changed his vision of painting. The daily presence of Zumeta creating his gigantic serigraphs, were three months where everything changed.

With that background and a head full of projects, Joaquin Lara moved to a much larger workshop in Las Cortes, in Bilbao, with Fernando Galvan and Carmelo Camacho. In the mid-nineties he began to move his work; Barrainkua, Arriola Cultur Etxea (Peio Aguirre curator), Talleres Abiertos La Bolsa Bilbao, he took part in the event "En Canal" in an industrial building in Zorrozaurre with Alberto Lomas as curator, Espacio Grossi, etc.

At the end of the nineties, he moved to Vitoria where he began a new stage, meeting artists such as Imanol Marrodán, Koko Rico, Edurne Herran, Iban Arroniz, Iñaki Larrimbe, Dorleta Ortiz de Elgea, etc... My first exhibition in Vitoria, in 1998, in the Cultural Centre of Montehermoso "El Recorrido de Los Objetos", "Horror Vacui" in Espazio Zuloa" following multiple collective and individual exhibitions at the beginning of the new century, such as "La Vida Mixta" in the Galeria Txema Burgos in Bilbao, "Piktoplastikos" in the Caja Vital, "P. B.Series" Jamete Cuenca Gallery, "Territorio Desconocido" Blanca Soto Gallery, Madrid, etcetera.

His work is present in various institutions and private collections.