De Lara immigrated from Mexico to the United States at the age of 12 and has been a DACA recipient since 2012. Growing up in Texas as a non-English speaker, feeling neither from here nor there, his work now reflects on ideas of nationality, language barriers, body language and the sense of touch. His sculptures explore how stories, folklore, and rituals can be silently communicated through inanimate objects, tools, and foreign environments. De Lara often works with wood, a material that always shows the passing of time on its skin. His aesthetics and materials are inspired by the shared backyard between the United States and Mexico.
Works
- Raul De Lara – Helping Hand
- Raul De Lara – One too many Mexican restaurant jobs in my 20’s
- Raul De Lara – One too many summers working construction with my dad
- Raul De Lara – Saguaro #1
- Raul De Lara – The Wait (Again)
- Raul De Lara – Tired America / America Cansada
- Raul De Lara – Tired America / America Cansada (green)