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Dean Larson

AUG 16 - JAN 4

Urban Visions: Life in Motion

Artist Dean Larson was raised in Palmer, Alaska where he first learned painting under the mentorship of Alaskan Artist Fred Machetanz. After graduating from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon Dean moved to Baltimore, Maryland for graduate studies at the Schuler's School of Fine Art and Towson University. In 1997 the artist moved to San Francisco, CA. He has long been associated with the resurgence of the American Contemporary Realist movement.

Dean has written books, been featured in numerous art periodicals, has mounted over twenty-five solo exhibitions, and has been featured in over fifty group shows in museums and galleries across the U. S. He is a well-traveled artist who thrives on diversity and is constantly searching for new subjects. He is adept with cityscapes, landscapes, portraits, and interiors. Through the use of compelling compositions and harmonious colors he draws the viewer into his canvases. Dean's commissioned portraits and studio paintings can be found in museums and other public collections in the United States and Europe. Larson also has taught painting (mainly cityscape and landscape) at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco since 2006.

He maintains a studio near Mission Dolores, the original Spanish Mission in San Francisco. Larson has painted the portraits of Senator Ted Stevens which hangs in the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. and Senator Mark Hatfield which hangs at Willamette University. Larson's work is also included in the collections of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Alaska State Capitol, Triton Museum of Art and Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. For more information visit www.deanmlarson.com, or www.instagram.com/deanlarson07

Artist Statement:

Dean Larson

Urban Visions: Life in Motion

Over the past several years two central themes have consistently attracted and inspired my artist’s eye. The first motif is life in the city. Having relocated from Alaska and Maryland to California in 1997, the Bay area and in particular, San Francisco, became an instant source of diverse and compelling subject matter. From Russian Hill to North Beach, from Market Street to Golden Gate Park, the city that changes constantly presents new perceptions and subjects.

The focus on what it means to be a contemporary realist is constantly at the forefront when planning new work. It’s never enough to simply copy what’s in front of you. There is a desire to go deeper and search for what is most significant and essential. Intentional soft blurs contrast with hard edges to have objects and figures come forth and recede and fuse to backgrounds within pictorial spaces.

With my second subject, figures, I search for accidental moments where people reveal the variety of the human experience and also show glimpses of what it means to be living and working in modern society. Sometimes it is a lone figure and other times there is a group of figures where the relationships between the figures are closely observed, highlighting the gestures of each figure and the group as a whole. The search for mass shapes and abstract patterns that, by working through my painting process, eventually becomes more realistic, unique designs challenge and inspire me to keep painting each and every day.
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