July 5 ,2024 - August 17, 2024

Beginner Nudes

Opening Reception: Thursday, June 11, 5-8PM Gallery Hours: By Appointment on Saturdays, 12-3PM

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Specialist presents Beginner Nudes by Chris Lael Larson. In Beginner Nudes, Larson transforms discarded student figure paintings into immersive installations and still-life photographs that continue the original creative idea of painting — moving an abandoned impulse forward in time and giving it new life, meaning, and value. 

Larson reclaims and interprets the paintings, and combines them with large-scale photographic prints, paint, fabric, natural elements, and hand-built wooden shapes that expand the paintings' narrative and context. Next, he constructs an in-studio installation from the elements that are finally photographed. This presentation of the work integrates the built installations, paintings, and photos created in the process to illuminate the evolution of the image through a range of perspectives.

Chris Lael Larson is a Portland-based artist working in the overlap of painting, photography, and assemblage to create new perceptual experiences. His subject matter is the everyday absurd – the strange, curious, and confounding ways we connect to each other, the things we consume, and the environments we inhabit. In his work, Chris constructs temporary altar-like installations utilizing found objects, reclaimed materials, natural elements, cheaply printed photographs, and paint to accentuate their latent qualities and reframe their meaning. Sometimes, the installation is the final piece, and sometimes, the final piece is a blend of paintings and large-format photographs of his constructions using a hyperreal lighting technique to create images that confound expectations.

Chris' work is inspired by contemporary artists who use hybridized approaches to blur the boundaries between photography and other mediums: Aimeé Beaubien’s photo-based installations, Davide Gilbert’s touching temporary sculptural constructions for the camera, or Lucas Blalock's unrefined illusory manipulations.

Chris has shown work in over 30 cities across the US, with notable exhibitions at the Berkeley Museum of Art, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, and The Portland Art Museum NW Film Center. In 2020, he received a Grant from The Regional Arts and Culture Council to publish Cape Disappointment, a photo book that documents the visual vernacular of the distinctive towns of the coastal northwest. Chris is a member of Carnation Contemporary and Wave Contemporary in Portland, OR. Chris received a BS in Earth Sciences and a BA in Photography from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he was awarded the Irwin Scholarship for the Visual Arts.