Carlos Parra
Art in many variations
For over 20 years now artist Carlos Parra has lived and worked on Lanzarote. His old ateliers in La Geria and Maguez, which always had the doors open for visitors, are still a good memory for residents and tourists alike. For six years he has been running his own place in Teguise, where he offers his paintings and jewellery, a perfect place to get to know the art and the artist.
The big passion of Carlos Parra is his painting, and even when he diverts to other disciplines of art, painting is always the main base. His early fish motives are decorating a lot of houses on the island and mainland Spain and through the years his paintings have more and more influenced by the island. Carlos prefers a natural basis for his works as oil paintings and natural pigments from different parts of the world. “Its important for me to hear what people see in my pictures, that is often the basis for very interesting conversations,“ tells Carlos. His paintings have been exposed on all Canarian Islands, on mainland Spain as well as in other European countries. Some galleries in big European cities have paintings from Carlos Parra in their exhibitions. To get more creative input Carlos likes to travel to countries such as India, Tibet or Africa where he gets to explore new cultures and find new natural colour pigments for his work.
Along with to his painting Carlos Parra has always used other forms to express his creativity, such as clay pottery or painting clothes. For years now the design of jewellery is a fixed part of his work and he designs high quality gold, silver and copper jewellery as well as pieces with semiprecious stones or colourful necklaces of different materials. “When I want to disconnect from painting I try to express my creativity in different forms. The design of jewellery is very satisfying and successful. I have a special line of silver jewellery with magical symbols that I like very much.? Each piece of jewellery is unique and a piece of art. You will find here in Carlos Parras shop pieces of jewellery that are totally unique.
Carlos Parra is an artist that you have to know a little bit to understand his art better. His place is an ideal meeting point. The small terrace of the next door cafe invites you to stay and while you have a look at his art you can chat with the artist. And in that way you can get more information about the creative influences of the island and about the different visions of the "travelling artist“ Carlos Parra.
