Raleigh Rambles

David Larson Art Reviews & Media

David got a fair amount of press, and they always ran those irresistible pictures. I always wish they had seen the gentler side he showed in gifts to friends and celebrations. Still, these articles, gathered, would seem a hoot and a holler to DEL.

April14,1985   StevenLitt

 Jarring, disturbing and sometimes downright ghoulish, the drawings of Raleigh artist David Early Early Larson have earned a small but dedicated local audience.

The works include images of Victorian-era beauties with Gibson Girl coifs, madonnas in filmy gowns or vampirish women staring at the viewer with an unsettling hollow-cheeked gaze.

At any one time. The Paper Plant has between 25 and 30 Larson drawings on display – enough to constitute a small, continuing exhibition of the artist’s work

Larson said over lunch that he wants to suggest extreme psychological states in his drawings. He’s also interested in what he called “the paradox of normalcy.”

Artistically, Larson said he has been inspired mostly by northern European artists…yet despite all the influences, Larson’s work has a clearly personal look.

unsettling hollow-               cheeked gaze

Max Halperen, NCSU English professor covered the Nightingale Gallery show for this RTP tabloid weekly by favoring David Larson’s work over “the pleasant but empty wallpaper that fills many of our local shows.”

Larson’s world (this painterly world, that is, for Larson himself is quiet and soft-spoken in public) is as unsentimental as they come. Nor is it an angry world, for the violence and viciousness are simply presented as facts of life…The fact of the matter is there is nothing quite like it on view elsewhere in the Triangle.

Steven Litt was less impressed with the Nightingale show: “He’s still working with the same angry pets, the same ghoulish men and women with bloodshot eyes and vampire teeth…”

As always, Larson’s control of his materials is excellent. He rubs, scratches, scapes and smudges rich textures into his pastel and charcoal drawings. The problem is that these skills are in service of a vision that needs to grow.

January27,1987     AndreaSelch

Andrea Selch did a big feature in the NC Independent and Wendy Walsh took the lovely photo in the back of the house on North Street (the one that burned).

I became interested in Larson when I saw some of his work on display at The Paper Plant in Raleigh. His pastel drawings of people drew me to them. It was something in the figures’ eyes – their shadows and hollowness were intensely realistic and emotional.

If I had to think of a name for his style, I would call it New Wave – not simply because the figures almost looked like they had spiked hair and were listening to punk rock, but also because after I spoke with Larson and learned his philosophies, I felt his work was a new wave in portraiture. It is a technique of social realism flavored, not by a political message, but rather by a human revelation.

He paints what he sees in people, anything from confusion to direction to sexuality to intellectualism.He says he wants to portray the soul. “A landscape has no soul,” he told me. I believe in eyes. They are windows.Through them you can see people’s intent.”

” I hate the way people are commodified by today’s hardcore consumerism, and I hate the way salability probably affects my work – it ruins the purity of the idea the same way even this interview does.”

Danny Gallant, graphic designer for Scream magazine, says of the above: I curated the show as I was supporting many of the great artists I had gathered for the soon to be stillborn new Scream Magazine. David Larson‘s Dupp was the feature and a huge hit, but there was a ton of great art. Other notable folks are John Vannucchi, Caroline Branch, Jeff Rooney, Lillian Jones, Greg Carter, Katie Boone.

Max Halperen reviewed the major retrospective of Davids work held at The Paper Plant. The poster below shows a list of friends, fans and organizations that loaned their beloved Larsons for the show,which contained 108 pieces.. There were also works for sale, including several large oils – the one poorly imaged in the article is at the top of the oils post.

In the article above, Max acknowledges “some grumbling about his failure to move beyond the world of Count Dracula”  but notes the strong defense from David’s admirers and sees him “edging toward a wider range.” Agreement to Abuse,” the painting shown in the article, is described as having ” a painterly environment which makes a broad and powerful statement.”

David Larson Art webpage

January 22, 2022 - Posted by raleighnaturalist | art, David Larson