Did you know that Surrealism is a cultural movement developed after World War I where artists depicted illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself? Lara is a top visual artist born in France and living in Whangamata. She is the featured artist of the last Coromind magazine and comes to the ALTBAYS Show to talk about the power of the arts, how NZ flora and fauna inspire her and much more! We are stoked to have the incredible NZ artist Emma Gustafson Evangeline co-hosting this show. Tune in now!
Show 189 – Lara Gay (Visual Artist)
Welcome to the Altbays Show (Feat. Emma Evangeline and Leo Magri)
Lara was born in Annecy in the French Alpes and she always loved to draw, paint, and craft in general for as long as she remembers.
Since her pram age, she’s been deeply influenced by surrealist artists as her parents had a big interest in them. As a kid, she remembers going to Salvador Dali's museum in Figueres and having her mind blown by his work. She experimented with her interpretation of Dali's paranoiac-critical method to reach her inner mindscape.
Lara consistently went to art evening classes since she was 10 years old. She spent her last 5 years in France wandering through museums and art galleries in Paris and Lyon before making a move to Aotearoa.
She initially came to New Zealand for a beaux-art portfolio project in 2019, and ended up settling here permanently.
New Zealand's fauna and flora are a big source of inspiration for Lara.
A major part of her work is to deconstruct the limits of anthropocentrism in surrealism and symbolism as we know it.
She also tries to question society's construction like the idea of gender and other injunction
Lara is based in whamgamatā where she is happy to express her creativity in her art studio located in the beautiful Wentworth Valley.
