In 1976, Maine artist David Larson opened a gallery in the Down East community of Penobscot. Surely you’ve seen it — or at least seen the sign for the Larson Studio Gallery while driving down Route 175 toward Blue Hill.
Larson died in 2007, and his widow and sons have relocated the gallery to South Portland. Larson Fine Art, 331 Cottage Road, opens at its new location with a reception from 5 to 8 tonight.
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Selected as a Maine Master by the Union of Maine Visual Artists, Larson made vivid, dense oil paintings often featuring human figures in moments of solitude, insanity and abject fear. In an artist statement, he once wrote, “My reality is an infinitely meaningful absence of meaning. I retreat from all points of view except this.”
His work sometimes borders on surreal, and he grounds his paintings in recognizable images of the human experience. His works runs a gamut of styles. It’s not so abstract that it’s inaccessible, and he handles realism deftly.
“After dad died, mom came to South Portland in the winters,” said son Anders, who lives in the neighborhood. “We had floated the idea of a gallery down here. When we saw the ‘For Lease’ sign, we decided to look into it.”
The gallery features a variety of Larson’s paintings from throughout his career. The space holds about 30 works in all, and there are many more in storage.
The family wants to sell his work, but their primary goal in opening the gallery is establishing better recognition for Larson’s work in southern Maine. He did well in Penobscot, opening the gallery each season and developing a following of collectors. His work is less known in the Portland area.
“Dad started painting when he was 14,” Anders said. “He made his living in New York City advertising, and did very well. He was the art director at a major agency. But by the late 1960s, he became disillusioned with the advertising world.”
Larson and his wife, Carole, moved to Maine in 1971 and bought an old canning factory. Larson took up carpentry and furniture making, and by the mid-1970s, found his way back to painting.
He painted vigorously the rest of his life, turning out hundreds of pictures.
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
bkeyes@pressherald.com
Follow him on Twitter at:
twitter.com/pphbkeyes
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