BIO
Larry Carlson is a visionary multi media artist. Working with computers he creates artwork that is completely mind blowing. His work spans a variety of forms including web-art, video-art, digital art, animation, sound art, photography, and collage painting. He is best known for his work in online web-art, in which he created several sites which feature his mind boggling movies.
G4Tech TV called him "The Salvador Dali of the Next Century", and High Times magazine labeled him an "artistic mastermind. Through his art, 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 work 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. Carlson's work fuses together aspects of the occult and mysticism with surrealism , psychedelic with pop and kitsch, and naturalism with the technological, resulting in sublime juxtapositions that totally bend one's perception.
Internationally recognized as one of the most original digital artists in the world today, his web sites have always been 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. In 2000 Carlson published the legendary web sites Virtual OM and Larrycarlson.com which featured his original full screen psychotropic entertainment for the online masses around the world. For the past five years Yahoo! directory has ranked Larry Carlson as the number one computer artist in the world. International newspapers like London's Guardian, Montreal's Mirror, and Istanbul's Vatan News have done features on his awe-inspiring artwork. His work has also been featured in US weekly, High Times, Vice, Juxtapoz, NY Arts and Lucky magazines.
Larry Carlson has exhibited his artwork in the U.S., Brazil, Sweden, France, and Germany. Recently the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited his collage art books in the show Book/Shelf, and his movies were shown at Alex Grey's COSM gallery. In 2008, Portland, Oregon's KBOO 90.7 fm hosted two Larry Carlson music specials featuring his surreal soundtracks. He also puts on live experimental video shows, providing visuals for major electronic music events in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Amsterdamn.
As a child growing up in northern New Jersey, 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. Currently Larry Carlson lives and works out of his studio in New York City.
INTERVIEWS
NY Arts | Larry Carlson talks to Ry Fyan 2007
Shot in the Art |Interview 2007
Blue Arts , Interdimensional cyber chat with Larry Carlson, 2001
Featured artist of the month interview with Larry Carlson from PixArt magazine, 2000
ESSAYS
Essay on Larry Carlson's "Pylon", 2009
Alterati | Z-Q by Larry Carlson, 2007
PRESS
Loyal Magazine #10, Stockhom, Sweden, 2008
Someones Garden, Japanese book, 2007
Seven Days, Vermont newspaper, front page 2005
High Times magazine, artist feature 2004
Drunken Boat, Columbia University , artist profile, Spring 2004
Vatan Newspaper, "Dijital Ecstasy", Istanbul, Turkey, 2003
Grrl-e-Grrl, " What a Mind Fuck", 2002
High Times magazine, "Morsels for the Mind", 12/2002
Internet Art, featured artist, Paço das Artes Museum book, 2002
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Lumen Eclipse,Harvard, MA 2009
Motion Graphics Festival, Austin,TX 2009
Museum of Modern Art, NYC 2008
Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden 2007
Other Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada 2007
David Castillo Gallery, Miami. 2006
The Paço das Artes Museum, San Palo, Brazil, 2002
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. Sometimes I do shoots in a studio, other times I take shots outdoors. 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 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,youtube videos, 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. All my soundtracks are avialable as a free mp3 download here.
Where do you exhibit your work?
I show different forms of art, like interactive web sites art, video installations, large Glechee canvas prints of digital art, collage paintings and handmade collage books. Recently my movies were presented at Alex Grey's COSM gallery, and were publicly displayed on a pair of outdoor video screens at Harvard. Last year, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City showed some collage art books I collaborated on in the show Book/Shelf. In 2002, The Paço das Artes Museum in San Palo Brazil exhibited a version of my web site LARRYCARLSON.COM projected on a wall in a gallery where visitors could interact with it. In Stockholm, Sweden, Galleri Loyal has exhibited my collage paintings. My movies have been screened in festivals around the world in places like New York City, Austin,Texas, France, Canada and Germany. And I have had many exhibitions of my digital images at festivals and shows around the world.
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. In the past I have played live on tour with musical groups like The Kottonmouth Kings, and at major electronic music events.
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
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 can people stay updated on what your doing?
I am active on Facebook and post new work there often and make a lot of "text art". Connect to the Larry Carlson Facebook profile, add your feedback, and stay updated on new work that is posted daily. There's also my Twitter page that is updated often.
I also have a picture only blog called ' "AMAZING VISIONS",-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.
T.V. SEGMENTS
G4 Tech TV feature 2002
NOW TV interview 2001
EPIC-FU TV feature 2007