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Harmonic Visionary To survey the landscape of Dora De Larios’ creative vision, one must not only travel to cities where her
large-scale architectural sculptures speak a universal language, but to the ancient past of all civilizations from which her inspiration springs.
The internationally acclaimed Mexican-American artist, who graduated from USC in 1957 with a BFA degree, strives to “harmonize the animal and the spiritual,” she says, “the earthly with the divine.” Her artistic world is populated by mythological creatures and goddesses that are both whimsical and fierce.
“Goddess,” a De Larios vision in the mythological tradition (porcelain, wood, gold leaf and stoneware). |
Among the most recent of her 40 years of achievements in the arts was a one-woman show of new ceramic and mixed-media works in the Doizaki Gallery of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo last summer.
It is no doubt De Larios’ ability to translate universal human dilemmas into mystical and transformative works of art that accounts for her multi-cultural appeal. She is today one of America’s leading clay artists, with an impressive list of accomplishments that range from place settings for the White House to a grand cement wall sculpture in Nagoya, Japan.
Her solo exhibition at the Japanese American center represented a lifelong dream for De Larios, who grew up in the ethnically mixed neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles, not far from where the JACCC stands.
“While I was at USC as a student, I fell in love with the Haniwa period of Japanese pottery,” she says. “It had a great influence on my early work. I’ve always felt a strong connection to Japanese people, artistic traditions and culture.”
THOUGH De LARIOS’ art shows definite influences of her Mexican heritage, the figurative works are just as likely to be described as Asian, African or Greek. She credits her studies of world religions and ancient art at USC – plus her travels around the world and her upbringing in ethnically diverse Los Angeles – for the unique cross-cultural influences on her artwork.
“I began to see the patterns and similarities between the various cultures,” she recalls. “There were different names for the deities, but they served the same purpose. They were positive or destructive forces.”
From the start, her private art sales have been sell-outs. From 1959 to the present, De Larios has been featured in more than 50 one-person gallery shows, group invitational shows and juried museum exhibitions across the United States, including the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
De Larios hosts an open house twice annually in her Los Angeles studio, where she displays her current works. For more information, call (310) 839-8305.
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