Loneliness (1983-1984): Oil Paintings
Pilar Lara’s return to oil paintings corresponds to a small series of works, painted between 1983 and 1984, with a very defined personality. A taste for the harmony of colours and vague contours dominates, partly inherited from her watercolour stage, but also due to the fact that this language was best-suited to reflect the dreamlike themes characteristic of this short phase of her career. Technique and themes provide a symbolist influence to these canvases.
Pilar Lara never entitled this group of works, most of them even lacked their own title. They have been called ‘Sueños’ [Dreams] trying to find some common ground, not so much in what is represented, but in the concern hidden behind: the human being, alone facing his own consciousness, especially at night during sleep, confronting his nightmares, fears and regrets. The tone of these works is melancholic, disturbing. Beneath its smooth shapes lies a feeling of unease and distress. This approach is not different to the one that will prevail in the following and most productive phase of this stage, except for the style: there is still here some restraint, perhaps a excess of coherence between what is recalled and the way of recalling it, as opposed to the overwhelming and radical personality of the works produced after 1985. Coherence in the sense that it expresses in a more genuine way the contradictions the artist faced. This connection between both phases can be seen in ‘La llegada del día’ [The arrival of the day], which contains that legendary aura from her later works, or in the violent kiss in one of the canvases of 1984.
Several of these paintings share the same device: the presence of a spectre who could be a symbol of the depicted character’s spirit, separated from him during sleep, ecstasy or…death? In another work, the spectres seem to form a choir – the voices of conscience? -and in other, a case of difficult interpretation, both figures share a reading.
She presents ‘La llegada del día’ at the XI Certamen Nacional de Pintura de Talavera [11th National Painting Contest of Talavera] in 1983 and later in 1984, she finally won the silver medal at the XV Certamen Nacional de Pintura de Luarca [15th National Painting Contest of Luarca]. With ‘Hechizo’ [Spell], she was awarded the first prize at the II Concurso de Pintura de la galería El Ratón [2nd Painting Contest of the ‘El Ratón’ gallery] (Madrid). ‘Ana’ was selected at the VI Convocatoria de Artes Plásticas de Alicante [Visual Arts Meeting of Alicante]. During these first years after her return to work, her determination to send her works to all kinds of contests and competitions pays off. Pilar Lara’s work started to become known and valued in these national calls for artists. That encouraged her to devote herself to the artistic creation in a more professional way, after the logical hesitation, uncertainty and initial insecurities. From that moment on, she begins one of her most prolific creative phases.
