Carlos Almaraz



Carlos Almaraz (October 5, 1941–December 11, 1989) was a Mexican-American artist.

Quotes

 * …there was the portrait of John the Baptist draped in furs, with a long furry beard, long hair, bushy eyebrows, and so covered in hair. Well, to a child of I must have been, I'm like four or five now, and this would have been one of our return trips because to a child of that age, it could very easy look like a gorilla. And one of the reasons I mention this story is that, for me, my first impression of art was both horrifying and absolutely magical, because I really believed that was a gorilla…
 * On, during his childhood, mistaking a portrait of John the Baptist for a primate in “Oral history interview with Carlos Almaraz, 1986 February 6-1987 January 29” (Smithsonian Archive of the Arts)


 * …I think Disney personifies some of the American ideals in art and in culture in total, because what he was trying to do and specifically with Fantasia. And it was the spirit of the thirties, I believe; it was the post-Depression period, where people were trying to think popular art, art that was consumable by the masses high art that could be put in a tin or another form, a package…
 * On being influenced by Disney productions in “Oral history interview with Carlos Almaraz, 1986 February 6-1987 January 29” (Smithsonian Archive of the Arts)


 * At some point in our lives, each of us realizes how really finite we are. For me this realization has been a driving force in my creativity and in my life in general. I paint with a new abandonment almost trying to deny the fact that I too will someday pass on and the only thing remaining will be the images that I leave behind.
 * On mortality driving his creative energies (as quoted in [https://www.lacma.org/carlos-almaraz-other-voices “Other Voices: Reflections on Almaraz's Legacy”)