Mernet LArsen

Mernet Larsen (b. 1940) received her BFA from the University of Florida, and her MFA from Indiana University. She currently lives and works between Tampa, Florida and Jackson Heights, New York. Larsen is a professor emerita at the University of South Florida, having taught from 1967-2003. Larsen’s work alludes to a range of historical references including 12th century Japanese scrolls, early Renaissance paintings, and the geometric abstractions of Russian artist El Lissitzky.

Larsen’s work is instantly recognizable because of her highly abstracted figurative narratives. She commonly uses reverse perspective and block-like figures to strategically execute her work. Larsen explains her process: “I often paint the elements separately on tracing paper, try out different noses, heads, hands, then paste them on.” While her early work expresses formal explorations of time, space, and color, her most recent work such as Raft exhibit everyday activities and expressions. Larsen elaborates about this turning point in her art, “I decided that I wanted to paint old-fashioned narrative paintings with volume and depth and the essences of significant actions. I developed a longing for pictures evoking a classical sense of permanence and solidity in the spirit of 15th-century Italian painting. But I knew these paintings would be statements of longing, of recognition that essences must be constructed, not uncovered. They would have to be makeshift contraptions, taking into consideration the issues I had been dealing with for the previous 40 years.”

Raft

In her Graphicstudio edition Raft, the figure, fishing with a cane pole, is collaged onto the background, complete with string fishing line. He peers into the water over the edge of a small angled raft, balanced on knife point. Larsen continues to play with the perspective adding a collaged element of triangle horizon further skewing the perspective.

Larsen’s work resides in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, and the Tampa Museum of Art. She has been part of group exhibitions at White Cube, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

For sales, or more information about an edition, please contact Graphicstudio at (813) 974-3503 or gsoffice@usf.edu.

Copyright + Reproduction

Images of the artwork are jointly owned by the artist and Graphicstudio. Reproduction of any kind including electronic media must be expressly approved by Graphicstudio.