Larry Clark: Tulsa Time
Larry Clark Untitled 1963 Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine New York
Contemporary photographers study Larry Clark to gain a definitive understanding of “documentative” practices, and aspiring artist-academics look to his photographs to engage in a dialogue about photography’s role in art history. On view now at Presentation House Gallery in North Vancouver is Clark’s most iconic body of work, Tulsa. This exhibition consists of a series of images taken in Tulsa, Oklahoma, between 1963 and 1971 when the photographer was in his twenties. Shooting in his hometown, Clark documented a world of youthful experimentations in drugs, sex and violence with an almost obsessive rigour—one that gained broad attention when Clark’s book of the same title was released at the series’ close.
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Larry Clark Untitled 1963 Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine New York |
At times abject in subject matter, Clark’s compositions of young figures sometimes border on being baroquely beautiful, with light and shadow captured skilfully and elegantly. It is hard to connect the look with the content—like, for example, a young pregnant woman injecting herself with heroin in front of a bay window. The complex and difficult nature of Clark’s work has granted Tulsa international recognition. Included in the Presentation House show is a recently found 16mm film of Clark in Tulsa in 1968; and on September 21 there is also a special screening of Clark’s 2005 film Wassup Rockers, which focuses on teens in South Central LA. Although the National Gallery of Canada owns a portfolio of Tulsa, this is a rare opportunity for Canadians to see the series exhibited in full.
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Larry Clark Tulsa 1968 Film still |
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