Jimmy Lara
Bio
Jimmy Lara (Manabí, Ecuador, 1978)
A visual artist based in Guayaquil since the 1990s, where he began his artistic training. He holds a degree as Tecnólogo en Artes Visuales from the ITAE (2013) and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the Universidad de las Artes (2019). He is currently completing a Master’s degree in Artes Visuales y Nuevos Medios at the Universidad de las Artes (2026).
He has presented eight solo exhibitions and participated in numerous national and international group shows, including: Espacio Odeón and ArtBo in Bogotá, Colombia (2012) with NoMinimo Espacio Cultural; the Luciano Benetton Collection in Italy (2017); Hybrid Art Fair, VII edition, Madrid, Spain (2023) with Proarte Fundación; the exhibition Una Planta en Marte, selected by the Bienal de Cuenca; and Videoakt 4 in Lima, Peru (2024).
Some of his award-winning participations include: Premio revelación at the Salón de Octubre, Casa de la Cultura del Guayas (2007); first place at the Salón de Octubre, Casa de la Cultura del Guayas (2008); first place at the Salón de Junio in Machala, Centro de Arte y Cultura Luz Victoria de Mora (2011); first place at the Salón de Julio, Museo Municipal de Guayaquil (2012); third place at the Salón de Julio, Museo Municipal de Guayaquil (2014); first place at the second edition of the Premio Batán organized by Galería NoMinimo, Guayaquil (2015); first place at the 1st and 5th Bienal de Pintura at Museo LANN, Guayaquil (2008 and 2016); and first place at the LVI Salón de Pintura Luis A. Martínez, GAD Municipalidad de Ambato (2026).
His work is part of the collections of the aforementioned institutions, as well as private collections both within Ecuador and internationally.
Statement
Lara’s work explores the transformation of the image from the material to the immaterial, placing photography under tension as a device of memory and control. Through physicochemical processes of depigmentation, he erodes the image and shifts it toward states of indeterminacy, where the visible oscillates between transparency and opacity.
His practice articulates a dialogue between stain, grain, and pixel as historical forms of visuality, questioning not only how we see, but under what conditions we are allowed to see. Through translucent materials and experimental devices, he activates relationships between image, perception, and power, revealing the instability of the visible within contexts of hyper-visuality.
Rather than destroying the image, his practice proposes its dissolution as a field of contestation, where the ephemeral and the persistent, the revealed and the concealed, become intertwined.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
