Chris Larson
September 27, 2008 - January 17, 2009
Onofrio Gallery
Chris Larson’s work examines the relationship between humans and machines – sometimes expressed through a moment of impact, sometimes through great toil and effort. His previous sculptures are large wooden constructions of collided objects: in one example, a spaceship nearly flattens a wooden barn; in another, the car from The Dukes of Hazzard TV show, recreated in wood, is smashed into the roof of a replica of Ted Kaczynski’s cabin. These works are filled with metaphors of heroic and anti-heroic acts and of the collision of good and evil in human nature. In his films, characters perform mysterious tasks withelaborately constructed tools that become unending necessary labors, thereby threatening the boundaries between human and machine. This exhibition will feature a new film as well as new sculptures, drawings and photographs. The film will be shown on one side of the main gallery in a room constructed specifically for viewing with sound insulation and audio/video installation. Three new sculptures and two-dimensional work, including over a dozen photographs and drawings, will be installed on the other side of the gallery to complete the exhibition. Larson will also exhibit previous two-dimensional work that contributes to the narrative of the film and sculptural installation. This exhibition will introduce his work to a regional Minnesota audience that will be intrigued by and appreciate many of the historical and pop-cultural references in Larson’s work. Minneapolis Star-Tribune art critic Mary Abbe has commented on Larson’s“hard-working carpenter quality that [makes] him seem very Minnesotan.” The complex constructions of both his sculptures and films would provide excellent entry points intodiscussions with viewers on the deeper and more universal issues of Larson’s work. A fully-illustrated catalog will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.
Larson was born in 1966 in rural Minnesota. Today his sculptures are collected and recognized around the world. His 2004 sculpture, Pause (The Dukes of Hazard ’69 Charger and Ted Kaczynski’s Montana Refuge), was recently purchased by Ruth and William True of Seattle— named one of the world’s top 200 collectors in ArtNews Summer 2006 issue. His exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Crush Collision, also garnered international attention when it was exhibited at Magnus Miller in Berlin earlier this year. Larson is currently and instructor at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
This exhibition is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and an award from Think Community Foundation.
