A local businessman who picks up the artist’s brush when traffic is slow has his work on exhibit in Union City until the end of the month.
Marcos Lara, the owner of Lara Signs on Broadway in Union City, graduated from Memorial High School in West New York and currently lives in Guttenberg. He specializes in landscapes and portraits done seamlessly with an airbrush.
A selection of his paintings is on display at the Union City Art Gallery in Town Hall.
“I admire what man makes, but I am more influenced by nature.” – Marcos Lara
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“I admire what man makes, but I am more influenced by nature,” said Lara. “Everything that is created by nature is unbelievable, the beauty of it, the colors.”
Each painting comes from his mind, he said, and that gives each piece a personal touch.
“They are all imaginative,” said Lara. “I have no models for anything.”
Lara said when he first started painting in 2000, he focused on western scenery, mostly due to his enjoyment of old Western movies. His Cuban heritage has not influenced his work all that much, he said, though the horses he remembers from his childhood appear in some of his paintings.
“The beauty of the animal itself is something that you can admire,” said Lara.
He added that he also tries to paint what he thinks other people will also find beautiful.
Began drawing in Cuba as a boy
Before trying his hand at paint, Lara used pencil for the drawings he did so often as a child in Cuba. He became so skillful, he said, that his neighbors would ask him to visit and draw for them.
“It gave me enthusiasm about the whole thing,” said Lara. “I said to myself, ‘This is something I can do, so let me keep doing it.’ I couldn’t play anything like guitar, but the drawing came naturally.”
He added that his drawings often became the center of a joke.
“They used to gather around me, all the old people,” Lara said, “and they would say, ‘Draw this old man, so he could see how ugly he is.’ ”
Lara said he has taken a few professional art classes in New York City. On his own, he has dabbled in wood sculpture and graphic art, which he now does professionally.
“We have been in the computer age for the last few years, so we do a lot of computer work, but it used to be every day I had to draw for lettering, fonts,” said Lara.
He said that his company is usually busy, but when he has few customers, he takes out his paint and gets to work.
“I paint when I am slow in my business, so a lot of the paintings, although they look happy, I have done them when I was kind of down,” said Lara.
He added that painting lifts his spirits.
Amanda Staab can be reached at astaab@hudsonreporter.com.