FLASH MOVIES : VIDEOS : ARTWORK : WEB SITES
MP3'S : BLOG : LINKS : DVD : CONTACT
BIO
Larry Carlson is a visionary multi media artist. Working with computers he creates artwork that is completely mind blowing. G4Tech TV called him "The Salvador Dali of the Next Century", and High Times magazine labeled him an "artistic mastermind". Working in the mediums of photography, web art, digital art, animation, video art, collage and sound he presents us with the mystical dimensions of consciousness, coaxing us into sweet spiritualized epiphanies one moment then plunging us into completely bizarre surreal frenzies the next. His art is more than just eye candy for stoners. In the tradition of arch-surrealists like Miró and Magritte, Carlson at his best gives us a kind of disjointed representation of the slippery nature of the unconscious mind, driven to Dionysian extremes.
Internationally recognized as one of the most original digital artists in the world today, his web sites are at the vanguard of taking the internet to the next level. A pioneer in multimedia experimental web-art, he first started exhibiting his artwork online in 1997. For the past five years Yahoo! directory has ranked Larry Carlson as the number one computer artist in the world. Newspapers around the world like London's Guardian, Montreal's Mirror, and Istanbul's Vatan News have done features on his awe-inspiring artwork.
As a child growing up in northern New Jersey, Larry Carlson spent a lot of time drawing and began to keep a sketchbook at an early age. His artist's attention has always been captivated by both nature and technology. He is a Cooper Union School of Art graduate, where he studied painting and filmmaking.
Larry Carlson has exhibited his artwork in museums and galleries in the U.S., Brazil, Sweden, France, and Germany. Recently the Museum of Modern Art ( MOMA ) in New York exhibited his collage art books in the show Book/Shelf, and his movies were shown at Alex Grey's COSM (Chapel of Sacred Mirrors). He also puts on live experimental video shows and has provided visuals for major electronic music events in New York, Las Vegas, Toronto, and Los Angeles, as well as mixing video live on tour with musical group, The Kottonmouth Kings.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is your process for making the images?
Sometimes I see a clear vision in my mind's eye of the image I want to make and then I set out and find the images and computer effects to make it happen. Most of the time I just experiment and have fun with combinations of filters,layers, and 3-D rendering. I do a lot of the work with the image editing program Photoshop. I also use 3-D rendering programs to make computer generated objects and setttings to use in my work.
I always have a lot of unfinished works on my hard drive that I work on for a while and then put away until the inspiration hits me to work on it again. So most of my finished pieces are the result of months of on and off work. I follow my own vision and try to make something new everyday. Even if I dont feel like working, I still work on my art daily, because it helps me stay focused and continue to make new fresh work.
I am mostly left-handed and use an electronic pen on a tablet to actually draw and paint on my digital images. I aslo use a mouse with my right hand at the same time.
As well as using computers to make images I also make old fashion cut and paste collages. This really influences the style of my digital work, as it helps me use Photoshop in a "real hands on" way, and not be dependent on digital effects only.
What inspires your work?
To stay inspired, I look at a lot of different kinds of art in museums, galleries, and online. Many of the ideas for my art come to me in dreams and visions, so i spend a lot of time cultivating a 'mystcal state of mind". I often go out in nature, hiking, camping and taking photos, being a part of the mother nature system has a deep influnce on my work.
Do you take your own photos?
Yes. I take photos with a digital camera that I use in my work. I retouch, fix up, and alter the photos in photoshop. In the city or up in the mountains. its always an adventure getting new shots to use in my work.
How do you create your collage work?
With glue and sissors.I hunt for old books and magazines for material to use and I print out images from the computer. I cut and splice these samples into new formations that reconstruct culturally constructed meaning of the original samples, opening up these received images to a multiplicity of interpretations. Collage artists take a tiny little bit of something from a piece and put it together with a lot of other pieces and make a distinct whole. Sometimes I like to collaborate on collage books with other fellow collagists, like Brian Belott.
How do you do your live VJ shows?
Basically I mix a collage of videos and animations in much the same way that DJs mix records. The techniques and equipment are different then a DJ, but the basic principles are the same (eg selecting, cross fading, scratching, cutting, sampling, to the rhythm). I burn my own custom made DVDs and much of my VJing now is me mixing content on several DVD players through a video mixer device to the rhythm of the music. As well as the DVD players I also use a VJ software program to mix and manipulate digital video clips.
How do you make the soundtracks?
I make my soundtracks by mixing and processing sound samples on the computer. I use several different sound programs to put the tracks together..I collage samples from everywhere and anywhere, the TV, the web, radio, phone messages, turntables and musical instruments. Sometimes i use programs to generate sounds to mix in the work. I also play around with the KORG MS2000, a really cool Pink Floydish sounding synthesizer.
Did you go to school to learn how to do this?
I did graduate from Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, where I studied painting and filmmaking. A lot of the work I do now, I learned on my own. I love learning new programs and experimenting with them to make something new.
How and when did you get into computers?
My early experiences with computers begin when I was a kid, messing with the old Commodore 64 home computer. Later on in college I did a big experimental video collage piece with the Amiga video editing system as well as experiments with Adobe Premiere. I spent a lot of time creating digital images with Photoshop. During this time i started making music with the computer and more then any thing I wanted people too see this cool stuff -so publishing on the net became a must. I quickly learned how to make web pages and my early web sites were online galleries of my digital images. So by the time Flash came out , I was ready to really rock the system! After having spent years of exploring so many different fields of computer art, now its all kind of melting together into one "multimedia" experience
Where do you exhibit your work?
Museums, galleries, art shows and online. I'm very happy that my work has been shown around the world in places like, Brazil, Sweden, France, and Germany. Recently my movies were presented at Alex Grey's COSM (Chapel of Sacred Mirrors), that was fun. And now the the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) will be showing some collage book art of mine in the show Book/Shelf. But my real focus for showing my work is online.
Do you have a blog?
Yes. Kind of....its a picture only blog, It's not really a log of my real life , but a log of my surreal life. It's a stream of digital, mixed media, and collage artwork. I give you a peek at what I'm working on at the moment, as well as open up my archives and show some old work. Here's a link to it - AMAZING VISIONS
What is your DVD like?
Its a journey a huge mix of video and flash animations and my orginal soundtracks. I used diffrent programs to put it together, and scored the soundtrack for it . If your a fan of my web sites, you should get this DVD! It's jam packed with all new mind warping entertainment, with lightning speeds and much higher resolution then I could ever do online. This DVD is full of all new content not available online or anywhere else. You can check it out here.- DARKSTAR TRANSMISSIONS DVD
Do you do other things besides work on your music and art?
I have lots of interests. I'm very interested in cryptozoology, the study of hidden and unknown animals. I do a lot of research on the Sasquatch phenomenon, I comb over sightings reports, historical documents, and topographical maps and then go out on many field expeditions into remote areas. My interest in cryptozoology has a good influence on my artwork in a mysterious way. I also really enjoy biking.
T.V. SEGMENTS
G4 Tech TV feature 2002
NOW TV interview 2001
EPIC-FU TV feature 2007
HIGH TIMES : ARTIST FEATURE : 2004
NY ARTS MAGAZINE : LARRY CARLSON TALKS TO RY FYAN : 2007
Larry Carlson: As artists who use the assemblage process, we both sample fragments from the world of media streaming around us. I spend a lot of time collecting images, sounds, and videos on the internet as well as thrift stores and garbage cans. This process of searching for and categorizing media samples is an important part of my work. How do you go about dealing with so much stuff?
Ry Fyan: I’ve actually moved away from the collecting and storing of imagery to be used later in my paintings. Recently I sold off my massive collection of records and books, and have been cleaning my studio much more often, disposing of any piles of unused images. I've moved more towards deciding upon images that have some sort of intrusive resonance in my memory by subconscious and conscious bombardment. I’m trying to paint images while their communicative power is still fresh in my mind, while they still have the power to repulse or seduce. Often I'm attracted to imagery and symbols that exude an uneasy frisson, a cognitive dissonance if you will, which seem to resist quick uptake and consumption.
For instance not long ago I was watching people play a videogame. The two people playing were fairly intoxicated, yelling at the enemy soldiers as they killed them onscreen. For the first time in years I got a sort of removed, visceral feeling—suddenly something stuck on the outer surface of my mind, an image that I felt passionately uneasy about, and which could not be quickly filed or assimilated. So a few days later while flipping through a paper I was drawn as if by tractor-beam to a tiny image advertising a war game involving US Navy Special Forces. This tiny image—which I would not have normally registered—appeared to be a sort hieroglyphic talisman representing a complex web of meaning. I painted it immediately, probably because this was the only way I knew how to comfortably assimilate it and move on.
LC: I think really great artists are doorways between the sleepy world of everyday life and the world awakened. They can—for a few brief moments—awaken and capture a pinhole view of this immense other reality, giving the viewer a much deeper perspective on life.
In our overload of media culture, sometimes people need to be jolted and altered to really see anything important. In some of my flash movies and multimedia work I like to see how far I can push it, inducing a trance-like overload of sensations, like shining a hot strobe light right into an imagination cortex. I like making work that shocks and awes people out of the rational thinking process into a wonder of it all.
RF: It's interesting to think about an artwork as a transitional device for moving beyond everyday rational complacency. I experienced a sensory vertigo while watching some of your videos, which calls to mind the possibilities of manipulating the nervous system to induce a transformative experience in the viewer. The flashing pulses of light and color in your videos are just enough to trick the brain into relaxing. It's like using science and technology to do what was previously accomplished through the repetition of myths, icons, mantras, or drumbeats. It reminds me of what's being done with certain types of electronic music that replicate the rhythm of a heartbeat to make the mind reconnect with the feeling of being in-utero, but then throwing in some other analogous yet foreign algorithm as a kind of catalyzing monkey wrench.
I think the kind of consciously induced transformative state we're talking about can be reached in social ways as well. In these settings there are so many factors working to suppress the safeguards of rational control: lights, music, images, people, and booze add up to make a shit-faced artist forget about the conscious process of art production. I think it works best when one forgets s/he is even making anything at all.
LC: I work best in a kind of trance state where the influence of light, color, image, and rhythm comes out intuitively. Whack the machine till the ghosts pop out of it. These psychoactive effects you noticed in my work are particularly effective when viewed on the internet—as a medium it allows me to access an audience that is usually relaxed and at home, and more open to a hypnotic state.
Something I like about using computers to make art is they can be used like an alchemical device—you put a piece of media into it and then burn it, dissolve it, expose it to some warped code, and see what remains. Maybe in the future I'll be able to download my visions directly into peoples' brains.
RF: I really hope computers never physically enter our brains, though I suppose it may be inevitable. I think computers in the technological sense as well as in the sense of being a sort of grand “spell” have already made us into cells that make up a greater organism, an idea which may be the next step beyond forms of control previously embodied by governments and economic systems. The difference being that these previous forms primarily tap abstracted labor and accumulated potential labor, or money; while computers deal more with knowledge and communication as resources.
I do get a glimpse of my subjugation to “Spiritus Mundi” occasionally. I’ve made too many paintings involving pyramids, but I had this panel on the floor and every time I looked at it, I saw two pyramids. I would say to myself, "no, get a better idea,” but I gave in and outlined what was there... You see I didn't have a choice. Perhaps some overmind energy wave categorically demanded that I reinstate two pyramidal triangles into being, but fuck I'm the one who has to put my name on it!
Obviously the idea of the artist in a “trance state,” doing things by compulsion, is extremely problematic for contemporary art criticism. This reminds me of a discussion I had about the recent Paul Noble show at Gagosian. I loved the show, but a friend dismissed it for lacking “meaning” or social-political commentary. I asked whether or not he would admit that Noble drew beautifully, which he agreed that he did. I think the need to drag something beautiful down through the filter of “art rules” or preconceived templates to establish meaning and intent is often a defensive reflex. A truly beautiful object or text is inherently meaningful; it potentially threatens the complacency of the matrix we use to establish meaning by wielding mysterious powers over the viewer's less rational senses. This also can be related to the discussion we were having about manipulating someone’s consciousness through light and motion.
LC: What if you just went all-out and made a huge painting with as many anomalies as you could pack in—like a pyramid covered in Masonic and Mayan symbols interconnecting to secret chambers that lead to the center of a hollow earth. In the background a giant UFO beams up a family of Sasquatch, while being chased by a swarm of black helicopters in a sky that’s raining fish and frogs! In the foreground the New Jersey Devils are using a Ouija board with Jack the Ripper, Saint Germain, and Jim Morrison, and as Atlantis slowly rises from the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster pokes its head up to watch a gang of tripping hippies on the beach wearing tin foil hats hold hands in a circle levitating a crystal skull!
SHOT IN THE ART : INTERVIEW : 2007
An Interview with Larry Carlson
12/31/07
"Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation."
~Salvador Dali
-MAD: Larry, it's a pleasure to finally speak with you today; I've been a fan of your unique style of "mind fucking multi media" for awhile, and it's very cool to have an opportunity to get some behind the scenes details from the man himself. For those readers who are unfamiliar with your work, they can find some examples of your amazing art at LARRYCARLSON.COM, NORTH VALE, and my personal favorite MEDIJATE. You also keep a blog at SKY HAS EYES. What's the creative process for a website like 'Medijate', and how long does it take to put a project like that together from start to finish? How did you first get started in this field of creative expression?
-L.C.: Usually it takes a couple of months, working every day. They start out as hazy visions, and I just start playing and experimenting till it reaches a stage while I start to shape it into a finished piece. When I created the web site MEDIJATE, I was living in a basement of on old abandoned bar in Amsterdam, lots of hash was the biggest influence on that one. Where I am in the world has an influence on the work. As an example, my latest web site, NORTH VALE, is a collection of interactive pictures, created during a fall and winter up in the mountains of Vermont. It has a very backwoods, "trippy-Americana" feel to it.
I first started out as a traditional visual artist doing real life drawing and paintings, and slowly transcended in to the art realm of digital media, sound mixing, video and photography. I've taught myself how to do all of it, because I'm just kind of a jack of all digital trades. I have a real passion for learning new programs and applying them to artistic ends.
-MAD: Some people have equated you to a sort of "Cyber-Shaman", taking people on an interactive journey that is almost akin to a spiritual experience or drug induced trance. HIGH TIMES magazine described you as "an artistic mastermind!" Do you consider yourself a new-wave Shaman, or is that taking things a little too seriously? If you had to put a label on yourself, how would you describe the Larry Carlson experience?
-L.C.: Through my artwork, I create places where the viewers can have spiritual experiences, lose their mind, or just have fun. I have fun making this stuff, and hope that viewers can sense that in the work. Sometimes my work can be serious, sometimes spooky, other times it's funny. Some people report going on shamanic type journeys with my art, so I guess you could consider me a shaman-artist. I feel we have an obligation to explore these domains that exist beyond the realms of the known and pass that information, through art, to others interested in it. At this time in our history, it's perhaps the most awe-inspiring journey anyone could hope to make. How would I describe the Larry Carlson experience? - I AM BEAST - HEAR ME ROAR!!
-MAD: Aside from Internet offerings, you also create original "psychedelic" artwork which has been displayed in museums, galleries, and art shows from Brazil, to France, Germany among other locations. Do you currently have any galleries which are being shown to the public, and are there any future art shows on the way that you'd like to reveal to us today?
-L.C.: Last year I had a video installation at a gallery in Miami, and a exhibition of my paper collage artwork in Sweden. This year I will be having some small shows of my digital images in New York, Atlanta, and Portland, Maine. Anyone who's interested to see it can check out my web site when more information is available.
-MAD: You use a lot of comic book imagery in some of your work. Are you a fan of comic books and graphic novels, and if so, what are some of your favorites? Would you ever consider working in the medium of graphic novels? I know of a good writer who would like to work with you (wink, wink).
-L.C.: Yes, I really like comic art. I grew up on Marvel when I was a kid; its how I learned to draw, by copying comics like the X-men. I think Jack Kirby, the artist who created many of the original Marvel superheroes, is one of the greatest artists to ever pick up a pencil! Take a look at his art- all the amazing landscapes, space ships, gizmos and gadgets- very crazy, cosmic stuff! I also really like a lot of self -published, contemporary artist comics like the work of Matt Brinkman, Frank Santoro, and Taylor Mckimens.
-MAD: When viewing your web sites, one of the first things that come to mind, at least for me personally, is the untapped potential of the Internet. You're creating some amazing effects that show a renewed viability for what the web could potentially morph into, if web designers had a little more ingenuity and vision. Do you believe that there is still a majorly untapped potential for the Internet, and would you like to see more artists/web sites delve into some of the terrain that you're covering with your works?
-L.C.: Yes the internet has major untapped potential in all areas, but especially in using it for pure creative expression. I think there needs to be more sites online that don't make any sense! It would be great to see more web sites that rock and give you a shock when you visit them. The lack of vision with web designers is one of the reasons I started doing what I did. Most "web designers" tend to make stuff that just looks too "corporate": like a giant advertisement. Not my cup of tea.
I want to use all this new technology in the ultimate exploration of the absolute furthest reaches of consciousness, putting the pedal to the metal of the ever expanding Net mind. I will get my art beyond just the computer screen into a form you can "be in". In the future, people will still need to take a break from the "real" and enter virtual alternate realities that will create living environments you can hang out in, web sites you can walk into, virtual dreams that swallow you up, digital spirits that dance around you. Technology will catch up with my vision, and I'll open the gates of heaven, digitally. I imagine the whole planet logged into my dream world alive with crazy pleasure. What's cool about my web art is I'm just one guy with a somewhat average computer and humble connection to the net, and just by working hard over the years and continually self publishing my work, it has grown into this huge world of wonder.
-MAD: I recently had the opportunity interview Mr. Kevin Todeschi, President and CEO of the Edgar Cayce A.R.E. Center, and also discovered that you're a huge fan of Cayce as well. You've personally visited the A.R.E. Center several times over the past few years. How did your own exploration into Cayce's works first get started, and could you share some of your previous experiences at the A.R.E. Center?
-L.C.: A big reason I am into Edgar Cayce is the information that he brought forth in his psychic readings covers subjects that I take a great interest in; such as holistic health, lost civilizations, ancient mysteries, personal spirituality, dreams and dream interpretation, astral travel, and spirituality. During hypnotic trances, Cayce was able to speak in an authoritative voice on subjects far beyond the range of his normal knowledge. Almost every day for forty-two years he had out-of-body journeys in order to answer questions covering an immense range of subject matter. A lot of the information he channeled is amazingly accurate knowledge about keeping the human body in perfect health. A lot of it is knowledge that modern alternative doctors are only now starting to figure out. As example, in the 1920's Cayce recorded, for optimal heath, that the body be kept in a 20 percent acid to 80 percent alkaline state. Now it was only recently that many alternative doctors are reaching the same conclusion. I try to stick to a very natural diet and lifestyle, so Edgar Cayce's information has a lot of use to me. I am also very interested in learning more about how to tap into the other states of consciousness and get meaningful information for the art work I do. Cayce covers a lot of these techniques as well, because it was how he worked.
The A.R.E. Center in Virginia Beach is the main place in the world to go for all things relating to Edgar Cayce. They practice medicine there as recommended by Edgar Cayce, which is a truly holistic approach, applying conventional and alternative medicines, physical therapies, and even prayer and meditation. The A.R.E. Center's goal is to achieve lasting positive changes in not just the body, but in the entire body-mind-spirit relationship. They always have interesting lectures taking place on fascinating subjects. Another thing I love about the place is there is also an amazing library there, open to the public, with a massive collection of occult, new-age and mystical books. I would advise anyone, next time you're faced with a heath issue, check into Cayce's cures and see if the ol' sleeping prophet of Virginia Beach can help fix what ales ya!
-MAD: I can only imagine some of the other influences that you would credit with personal inspiration. What are some of your favorite bands, musicians, books and films?
-L.C.: Music is my number one influence and I always listen to music while I'm working. My MP3 player is full of classic rock, drum n bass, jazz, ambient, hip-hop, reggae, prank phone calls, podcasts, etc… I'm always seeking out new kinds of music just to catch a shock. One of my favorite bands is 'Coil'. I do a lot of collecting of old vintage books, mostly stuff that features illustrations. I get a lot of inspiration from this and it's what I cut up and use in my collage artwork. I also get a lot of inspiration, from just being out in the wild places. I do a lot of outdoor activates like biking, hiking and camping. In the winter I like to snowshoe around. I spend so much time on the computer working and exploring online that it's important for me to take breaks and stay balanced by going out into the woods where the only circuitry is the sap flowing in the trees.
-MAD: Do you watch any television programs? Is there a reason that TV is getting more mindless and shitty with every passing year?
-L.C.: I watch TV in very small doses. There are shows that I really like, like The Sopranos and Big Love on HBO. But unfortunately the really good masterpiece television is rare, most of TV is just a big boring advertisement designed to screw with your nervous system and make you stupid. TV is used as a tool to keep most of the "sheeple" population dumb, uninformed, and caught up in non-issues. I'm too busy working on art and surfing the web; I mean the internet is infinitely more interesting and empowering.
-MAD: Some people might not be aware, but you're also a musician, providing most of the music and soundtracks for your web sites, and have even done some work with established bands over the years. Are you interested in working with more musicians, if so, who? Would you ever consider doing a "Larry Carlson" tour (something like the Blue Man Group on some very strong Peyote)?
-L.C.: Sure, I would consider doing a live show in the future, a grand mix of live visual video mixing and live audio. Anything is possible! I would be into working with more musicians that I thought could mix well with me. If I did, I would like to have a role in something where I could provide the samples and production.
-MAD: Do you have any favorite artists of your own, Alex Grey for example?
-L.C.: I like Alex Grey's work, it's fantastic! People kinda lump us together because of the psychedelic visionary aspects of our work. But I feel my vision is very different then his. To me his work looks kind of like an illustration of energy points in the body, like from a yoga manual. You know, pictures of very high-level blissed out states. My work is what it's really like when your out in the untamed dimensions, a way more fucked up vision. Like Alex Grey, I show the bliss and the psychedelic energy coursing through the veins, but I also show the rough edges, the freaked out spooky stuff, the great unknown. Also the big difference between Alex Grey's work and mine is that I make animations, movies, photography, collage and digital, while his work is really just painting.
I have a very wide range of favorite artists. It would be hard to list all of them. One of my favorite artists is Henry Darger, a completely original outsider artist. His work is just amazing, far better then most trained artists. Harry Smith is great; his collage movies are a big influence on my work. I like the painters of the Hudson Valley River School, and I love the work of the painters of The Northern Renaissance like Hans Memling, Jan Van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch. I really like the art of ancient Egypt. I spend a lot of time looking at Egyptian artwork in museums. There is a lot to learn there, they had a great understanding of the universe. In the contemporary art world I like collage painters Brian Belott and Fred Tomaselli, video artist Tony Oursler and art collective Dearraindrop. But like I said, this is just a very small sampling of my favorite artists, I have so many it would take pages to list them all.
-MAD: If you had a time machine and could meet one historical person, who would you choose to meet (don't worry, it won't cause a tear in the fabric of time/space).
-L.C.: John Lennon, I think we would really get along, but I also think our combined presence would rip the time space matrix to shreds.
-MAD: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take 3 items (or people) what would they be?
-L.C.: Water filter, a large sharp knife, , and a nice sleeping bag.
-MAD: Larry, I'd love to hear some of the future projects that you've got in the works, what might expect from you in the near future? As with most all of your abstract and surrealist expressions, should viewers expect more of the unexpected from you?
-L.C.: I think now my viewers know there always is something fresh cooking on my galactic grill. Coming up next is a "trip to the circus kind of website", free tickets for everyone! Also I'm publishing a new book, and will be unveiling more artwork. Check out my brand new picture only blog at http://larrycarlson.livejournal.com to stay updated on my newest work!
-MAD: Larry, it's been terrific discussion, and I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming projects; definitely hope we might be able to keep in touch. I'm no John Lennon, but I'm sure I could help in the tearing apart of this time-space matrix with you. You've got some mind-blowing stuff online - everybody should take a look. Likewise, happy holidays to you and yours! As we close up today, are their any words of wisdom (or shameless advertisements) you'd like to leave the readers with?
-L.C.: Thanks for the opportunity. Do what you're good at and do it for the good.
Shot in the Art, Interview with Larry Carlson12/31/07
INTERDIMENSIONAL CHAT : 2001
"Time and Space is Fucked,"
an interdimensional chat with artist Larry Carlson
Blue Arts Magazine November 12, 2001
"He's a super psychedelic cyberspace cowboy and his online creations are making huge waves in the world of cyber art."
by Gary Petty
Larry Carlson's eye-popping flash animations seem tailor-made to be viewed at the peak of a hallucinogenic experience. Fans have praised the artist as a "psychedelic genius", and "the Dalí of the New Century." But Carlson's art is more than just eye candy for stoners. In the tradition of arch-surrealists like Miró and Magritte, Carlson at his best gives us a kind of disjointed representation of the slippery nature of the unconscious mind, driven to Dionysian extremes.
Recently, I had a chance to "sit down" with Larry in virtual space for a lengthy discussion about the artist and his methods:
gary: I've seen the number 76 crop up in a few places (once literally) in your work. Any special significance to that number?
Larry: That's my digital ID number. I like to use several different names, or identities in my work. 76 is my "digital" name.
gary: So it's the artist's signature, so to speak. Cool. It seems to me that your art would lend itself well not only to multimedia presentations on the web and in live situations like raves, but also to the even more immersive environments of installation art. Have you had the opportunity to do any work in that area?
Larry: Yes. My personal website larrycarlson.com, has been shown in FILE (festival internacional de linguagem eletronica), a festival that took place in the Museum of Image and Sound, in the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil. Larrycarlson.com was showing in a special room as a projection and on individual computers . . . and I have been putting on "live" events using all the multimedia on my sites. Sometimes I work with a DJ and mix my own computer samples over the mix.
gary: So what kind of a set up do you use for the visuals? Do you project things onto a single large screen on stage behind you, or do you have multiple projections going at once, in different places?
Larry: Right now I use an LCD projector on really big screen, but I'm now working on a show of multiple projections going at once, in different places. Kinda like you're "inside" the websites.
gary: How often do you take these productions on the road?
Larry: I'm always on the road but not always doing live stuff . . . but I do consider my almost daily output on the sites to be a sort of "live" act, too. I mix up the work whenever I feel like it.
gary: You began studying digital art at Cooper Union in 1994, but I haven't seen too much in the way of pre-digital art on your sites. Why? Have you stopped working with pencil and paper?
Larry: I still draw in a "real" sketchbook with a "real" pencil. For the past seven years or so I've been doing a lot of drawings of women. Then I take those drawings and mess with them in Photoshop. I also do a lot of real old-fashioned cut and paste collage work, too. Before I started making digital images, I was making paintings, so even though I use a computer to create my images, they are still "paintings" in my mind.
gary: Have you ever been to snarg.net or superbad.com? Those were the first two non-linear web art sites that I came across after I got my first internet connection. It's difficult to find sites like that.
Larry: Snarg . . . not yet . . . superbad was a huge inspiration for me to start making web art. I always loved how you could get lost in it.
gary: Yes! I liked your web poetry labyrinth for that reason. But your sites are the first I've come across where you can get lost in them and still find your way out, thanks to the handy control panel you place in each one.
Larry: Thanks . . . what's cool about that web poetry labyrinth piece (THE LOVE MAZE) is a lot of the text is collaged from all over the web.
gary: Really? So I take it you're familiar with W.S. Burroughs and his cutup method?
Larry: Me and him share several same interests.
Larry: I use the "cut up" to tap into some kind of higher language. A lot of my text comes from the front page of the New York Times . . . I think it's amusing that I take this serious text and transform it into the trippiest trip online today.
gary: One of my favorite phrases -- it pops up in the unicorn at the edge of the universe animation -- is " time and space is fucked." Is that a cut up? I laughed out loud when I read it.
Larry: "Time and space is fucked." That just popped into my head while I was making that piece, so I just stuck it in there.
gary: It's perfect.
Larry: I should show you this page I found that lists every phrase the Beatles sampled.
gary: No way!
Larry: Like "for the benefit of Mr. Kite there will be a show tonight" from Sgt. Peepers, is from an old circus poster that John Lennon had seen.
gary: I knew the "Mr. Kite" source.I know a lot of them, like the Hamlet samples at the end of "I am the walrus."But all those samples on "Revolution #9" . . . does the site say where those come from?
Larry: No, just sampled text.
gary: What's the link? We'll put it in w/ the interview.
Larry: I'm more then just a fan of the Beatles, I study them. The way they experimented in the studio is mind blowing. Very inspiring stuff.
gary: Like the way they cut up all the tape loops of organs, tossed them on the floor, then picked them up and spliced them together in "Mr. Kite"? I keep going back to this idea of cut up, for some reason.
Larry: Well one of the best things a computer does is CUT and PASTE, so it relates to digital art.
Larry: Back when they were making Sgt. Peepers there really were not that many options, but they would just push it as far as they could to create new effects, like putting plastic bags on the microphones or singing underwater.
gary: Well, so what other sites, like superbad, have you been to that really grabbed you?
Larry: Can't say I'm really blown away by anything online right now. Most of the good stuff I see done is a little too "commercial" for my tastes.
gary: Too slick, or too propagandistic? A little of both?
Larry: Too "graphic designy." I like stuff that's raw and real . . . like kick ass music, ya know . . .
Larry: the best thing on the net for me is just the act of hunting for weird, fucked up shit.
gary: That's why google is the best search engine on the planet.
gary: It's not so "graphic designy," and they cache pages, so even the totally random crap that's up for only 3 weeks still gets saved, at least until the next time they send their bots out to trawl the web. Best of all, so far they have no banner ads.
Larry: I use google's image-only search to get a lot of the visual samples I need for my work. Type in a word and 'bang'! There.
Larry: The image of it.
gary: You mentioned kick ass music. What kind of music do you listen to when you're working?
Larry: I listen to a mix of all kinds of MP3s -- electronic, hip hop, and rock and roll . I only listen to MP3s now.
gary: When you're creating a flash animation, which do you work on first, the visuals or the music?
Larry: I usually work on the visuals first and then add interactive sounds and soundtracks.
gary: Didn't you say somewhere that you might be working on 50 or 60 different things at once? Is there one important thing that you're totally obsessed with right now?
Larry: I think I'm totally obsessed with getting all these different multi-media (music, poetry, photography, programming, etc.) that I work fused into one art form. And that's what the websites are for me. A way for me to take all my various interests and merge them into one giant piece.
gary: I would like to see one of your sites in a VR platform. How far away do you think that is?
Larry: That has always been my dream . . . to create a fully virtual environment. In many ways my websites are like blueprints for what I want to do in the future in VR.
gary: I think VR was invented for people like you. And I'd much prefer your brand of virtual surreality to any mainstream kind of virtual reality that somebody like Spielberg might make.
Larry: Yeah. The government's and corporate America's vision of virtual reality is so boring. They want to use it to train you to fight in their wars and buy their products in virtual stores. I want to use it to create places where you could totally lose your mind . . .
gary: It sounds like either way you lose your mind.
Larry: what do you mean?
gary: Well, with the first way, you lose your mind to corporate hegemony; they get to do with your brain whatever they want. Your work, it seems to me, is about losing your mind in the best way, like letting go of a burden.
Larry: But I do call a lot of it "mind control."
gary: It seems to me that what art like yours does is break down the patterns of thought and behavior that corporate media try to program into everyone.
Larry: Yes. I use many of the same techniques that traditional advertising does, only my media's ultimate goal is to set my viewers free.
gary: Are you trying to communicate a particular message with your work, or do you just channel the higher power, or muse, or whatever you want to call it?
Larry: I don't know what to call it . . . but I do feel that I'm channeling a higher power. I can't tell if it's a freaky alien, GOD, or just a way for me to deal with my fucked up emotions . . . maybe a combination of it all. Though I do think my work can be used as a tool for channeling, kind of like tarot cards.
gary: Your animations are as mystical or sacred as they are trippy or irreverent. I'm thinking here not only of Virtual Om, with its Hindu symbols, but of Medijate, which to me was like a window into one of McKenna's hyperboreal dream worlds.
Larry: The Medijate website is hard to explain what it is or what it means . . . for me it's just a loose feeling . . . a spirit . . . or a dream. A trip inside a living organic technology.
gary: So what trip are you on? Do you know where it's taking you?
Larry: I get the biggest high from creating new art and being able to broadcast it to a worldwide audience. That's my trip . . .
November 12, 2001
VATAN : TURKISH NEWSPAPER : ARTIST FEATURE : 2003
Vatan Newspaper, "Dijital Ecstasy", Istanbul, Turkey, 2003