 Jorge Andres Tarallo Braun is primarily known as Jorge (Braun) Tarallo
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An example of work by Jorge Andres Tarallo Braun
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following interview text, submitted December 2011, is written and copyrighted by Faye I. Moore, from Vista, California. The author wrote: I am a freelance writer, and have been for over 25 years Several years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jorge Tarallo for a project I was co-writing the literature for (a Western Art Festival). In the course of my interview, I noticed that Jorge was sketching something. When the interview concluded, he signed the drawing and handed it to me as a memento of the occasion (he was staying with friends in San Diego, at their home in Alpine). I am attaching my recollection of that interview and the sketch itself. In closing, I wish to mention that I knew even then that Jorge would be very successful. It's a pleasure to see how far he has come. Respectfully, Faye Hollins-Moore.
“Tarallo” by Faye I. Moore
When I first met Jorge (pronounced “hor hay”) Tarallo, I was a fledgling freelance writer and he was trying desperately to come to the United States from his native Uruguay (specifically, the capital, Montevideo) and break into the western art community. I was interviewing him for a publication I was co-writing for a western art festival. We spoke about his heritage in the world of art. Both his father and grandfather were architects. In fact, his grandfather designed one of the best summer resorts in Uruguay, “Punta Del Este”, with homes and ranches valued in the millions. His grandfather also painted in watercolors and this is where Jorge began to develop his considerable talents in this medium. His mother, Maria, had emigrated from Spain during World War II. She chose Montevideo for strictly economic reasons when she learned that the peso at that time was much stronger than the dollar. Jorge’s (or “George”, as he preferred) wife, Ana, was also an immigrant. This beautiful Lebanese found and married George in 1983 (having met him through her brother who knew George’s brother).
Then George began telling me about his paintings. He sold his first work, a watercolor, at the age of twelve and received what he called “very little payment”, while in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He won several competitions in high school including the first prize for a sand sculpture which yielded him a one month stay in France.
At the time of my interview, there was only one gallery representing his work located near the small town in California where he and wife, Ana, were staying with friends. He wasn’t a member of any artists’ guilds and very few articles had been written about him. He had an agent who was also an art dealer, however, that he had known for several years located in Chicago. And this was his only outlet for his spectacular works of art. Despite this distant representation, he was determined to remain in the United States preferring to paint portraits of our native American culture. This resolve was bolstered by the fact that he had tried other methods of supporting he and his family without success. For years, he owned a leather coat factory in Montevideo until an employee put him out of business.
I spoke with this determined man and I consider it one of the most fascinating interviews of my career. I knew that, even with so little exposure, I was watching and talking with what will one day be a renowned artist. We compared notes on how to practice our craft. He wondered what it was like to face a blank piece of paper and put words on it. I wondered about a blank canvass. And it got even more fascinating from there. For one thing, he uses a glass palette with a regular easel. He does no sketching first. As he put it, he just, “Thinks and then (starts) with a brush full of oil”. And he paints from the perspective of a mirrored image, stating that it gives his paintings a more “objective” feel. He’s always preferred oils especially when painting what he termed “Gaucho Art”, which is the equivalent to our western art in his native Montevideo. And, of course, there is the lighting he requires. As he stated, “The ideal studio has large windows and isn’t necessarily peaceful. If it isn’t quiet, I just turn my back on the noise. The lighting has to be natural, northern in Uruguay and southern here”. He expressed how difficult it is to find such a place: both in Uruguay and in the U.S. When I interviewed him, it was in a less than ideal studio setting. The friends he was staying with did their best to offer him a suitable environment for his work. But, at least for the time being, he had to restrict his painting to the early morning or evening hours only in order to even closely simulate his desired light source.
But there was a dark side to his painting. Unscrupulous art dealers were taking advantage of his lack of business acumen for their own profit. There were, in fact, lawsuits pending against one local gallery including George and some of his fellow artists claiming that the gallery owner sold their paintings at a much higher price than what they were told: sometimes with a difference of thousands of dollars. And there was George’s limited knowledge of our language that made for a miscommunication between him and various representatives of the art world. One incident, in particular, both perplexed and angered him. An out of state gallery that had been representing his work began to sell them wholesale.
But he stayed in the U.S., despite bouts with greed and chicanery. And as I viewed his paintings that had been placed on display all around our interview, I found myself grateful that he chose to remain here. One in particular, Boxed Canyon, had me wondering if the two tribesmen were captured in the surrounding stone walls or making plans for passers-by. And there was the much more aggressive painting, titled, In Pursuit. The pointing finger of one tribesman is matched by the understanding facial response of the other. With hand-tethered horses standing by, the co-conspirators map out their plans to proceed. And the details of their faces make it appear that Tarallo must have had actual subjects, but he doesn’t. Not only does he draw their native costumes; but, through their motions, he actually depicts their thinking and spirit. Because the Native American culture is his first love. He feels much more at home with what he calls, “Our ingrained image of 19th century western living”.
At one time, in his homeland, Tarallo thought he could easily portray the Atlantic seascape and old houses there that had been abandoned by disillusioned fishermen. He did this through the use of watercolors and abstracts. But it lacked the richness of the American west. And he found that the use of oils was much more instinctive, too. He developed a method of contrast and definition by placing a great deal of dark coloring followed by lightness. But the paintings that resulted also brought a dilemma for him. In his words, “The problem I find is naming my pictures like an American would”. In his painting of a lone horse standing in a prairie home’s rain drenched front yard, Tarallo sets the scene for a number of titles. But he settles on one, Waiting. His portrait of the trailed out cowboys’ at a well-lit saloon with the unkempt streets, showing the horses at bay and cowboys embarking on a rare night of relaxation gave Tarallo a suitable title, The Last Chance. And, with this title in particular, I could see the irony between his painting and his American west: both were being given one last chance.
My first and last chance to interview this artist was both enlightening and fascinating. And there was something incongruous about this session with this extraordinary man. Although he never sketches before painting, during the entire course of my interview, he was sketching something for me on parchment paper: a native American warrior. And, when the interview came to a gracious close, he just signed this most recent work and handed it to me, along with his calling card showing the profile of a pony with his name inscribed, “Jorge Tarallo, Artist, Original Oils, Alpine, CA”.
And that’s when I knew that this was going to one day be a much appreciated renowned artist. And I am very pleased to say that I had such good sense. Mr. Tarallo, as I now refer to him, is still painting in oils. Only, now, his works fetch thousands of dollars at auction. I’m so proud of you, George.
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Jorge Tarallo was born in 1951 in Montevideo, Uruguay where he studied at the National Arts School under the direction of the well-known artists Riveiro and Garino.
In 1972, he came to the United States, settling in California, to begin his career as a painter. He has had gallery exhibitions in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, New York, Chicago and other American cities.
A special concentration of Tarallo is achieving a particular quality of lighting and shadows. Critics frequently comment on a Rembrandt influence in his landscapes and seascapes, but Braun describes himself as an impressionist painter concerned with realism and constructivism.
Braun is married and divides his time between the United States and Uruguay, painting scenes drawn from the two Americas.
Reference
The Artists Blue Book - Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (Ed). (www.askart.com).
Davenport's Art Reference - Davenport, Ray.
Solo Exhibits
2000 Uruguay Republic Bank Museum, Montevideo, Uruguay.
1998 Hurllingham Cultural Center, Hurllingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1992 Vicar House, Montevideo, Uruguay "Aborigenes del Uruguay"
1982-3 Art World Gallery, San Diego, CA, USA.
1983 Anemberg Gallery, Palm Spring, CA, USA.
1981 El Prado Art Gallery, Sedona, CA, USA.
1978 Colores Gallery, Denver, CO, USA.
1973 Olive Tree Art Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
Exhibits
2003 Atelier de La Barra, Punta del Este - La Barra, Uruguay.
2003-1991 A.D.I. Art Gallery. Montevideo Uruguay.
2003 La Galerie, St. Charles, Illinois , USA.
2003 The May/Danela Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ , USA.
2003 RoGallery, Long Island, NY, USA.
1996-1984 More than 40 Galleries throughout the United States.
1989 Les Marchands D'Art Gallery, Montevideo, Uruguay.
1989 ABC Gallery, Montevideo, Uruguay.
1984 Husberg Fine Art Gallery, Las Vegas, NV , USA.
1982 El Prado Art Gallery, Sedona, CA, USA.
1980 O'Brian Art Emporium, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
1979 May Gallery, Jackson Hall,Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
1972-1971 Art International Gallery, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, San Luis, Scottsdale.
1969 Galleries in New York and Chicago.
1965-68 Galleries in Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre and Montevideo.
Lithograph
1972 First lithographic work of Braun's paintings is created in the United States.
1978 Worked with Jorge Dumas, official Salvador Dali's lithographer.
1978 Lithographic work from five of Brauns paintings are created exclusively for
Jack Fine Arts, NY, U.S.A.
Source:
Anastacio Silveira Batista, Associate of the Artist, September 2003
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