Lara Gay was born in Annecy in the French Alps in 1999. She
always loved to draw, paint, and craft in general, for as long
as she can remember.
Since childhood, I’ve been deeply influenced by surrealist artists as both my parents had a big interest in them. As a kid, I remember going to Salvador Dali’s museum in Figueres and having my mind blown by his work. I experimented with my interpretation of Dali’s paranoiac-critical method to reach my inner mindscape. I think Dali’s world will forever influence my creative expression. The surrealist art movement, in particular, helped me to express myself and share my inner thoughts with others, thoughts that can’t be held by words.
Once I was 10 years old, I consistently went to evening art classes. I remember sneaking into the art school where my mother worked to participate in living model sessions every week of my teenagehood. I spent my last 5 years in France wandering through museums and art galleries in Paris and Lyon before making a move to Aotearoa. Indeed, I initially came to New Zealand for a beaux-art portfolio project in 2019, but I ended up settling here permanently.
I use different mediums, each of them is like a tool with its unique properties: watercolours for complex projects, oil paint for intensity, ink for its unique flow, lino carving for a primitive intuitive approach, and I also occasionally use graphite and gouache. I rarely combine different mediums into one creation.
A major part of my work is to deconstruct the limits of anthropocentrism in surrealism and symbolism as we know it. I also try to question society’s constructions such as the idea of gender.
I’m based in Whangamatā, where I’m happy to express my creativity in my art studio located in the beautiful Wentworth Valley.
Special acknowledgment to the Eggsentric Café in Whitianga, where most of my work is currently displayed alongside other talented artists.
I sell my art at markets and through my website: http://laragay-art.com/
