One of the ongoing series that painter Larry Moore is working on from his South Carolina studio is Intrusion, which asks viewers to consider a world in which animals have intruded on human spaces. In a concurrent series, titled Intrusion Contemporary, Moore tackles the theme from a different angle: what if an animal or object were placed within an abstract setting that was foreign to it.
Outland, mixed media on panel, 30 x 30 in.
“With Intrusion, the paintings ask who is intruding on who. They were a juxtaposition, but also a contradiction, which is how I could place an elephant in a cotton mill,” Moore says. “But here, in these new Intrusion paintings, abstraction and the animal are the juxtapositions, and they can create a really interesting relationship with each other.”
Among the new pieces within Intrusion Contemporary are images of animal skulls against abstract spaces that overlap with the main subjects as paint crosses boundaries and merges into a unified form. As many as eight of these pieces will be available in a new solo show, Force of Nature,opening May 28 at Gallery Wild in Jackson, Wyoming.
The Good, The Food, The Ugly, mixed media on panel, 30 x 30 in.
Moore, a former graphic designer and illustrator, refers to the new work as design challenges. The idea originated from the art experiment of painting the same image differently across 10 paintings. The idea had legs. “There was a connection to each of them, even as everything changed all around them. It was a creative challenge to see how many ways I could vary the design,” Moore says. “Some artists will tell you that you have to be known for one kind of painting. But that’s not me and it doesn’t interest me.”
Force of Nature I, mixed media on panel, 40 x 40 in.
While his Intrusion series requires more preparation—including drawings and sketches, color studies, computer designs and more—Intrusion Contemporary is almost pure expression from the artist. “There is no set way of doing it. No formula. In some of the pieces, the abstract spaces are designed first, and in others the skull or other subject is done first. I just always leave room for additional painting. With my other paintings, I generally know where I’m going, but with these I just have a basic idea. It’s kind of like improv. And I like that. It creates an immediacy and challenges that I enjoy.”
The Outsider, mixed media on panel, 30 x 30 in.
Moore doesn’t see himself as a wildlife painter, mostly because he doesn’t paint nature or precise anatomy. For him, it’s a “man versus nature thing,” which ropes in ideas about realism versus abstraction. “I like creating in that space, where the two are merging,” he adds. —
Gallery Wild 80 W. Broadway • Jackson, WY 83001 (307) 203-2322 • www.gallerywild.com
Powered by Froala Editor
