Thu 4/11 @ 6:30PM
In an art world dazzled by hot young artists and always looking for the next fresh-out-of-art-school breakout star, Mernet Larsen stands apart. She’s nearly 80 and retired from teaching art at the University of South Florida. And she didn’t have her first solo shows until she was in her 70s.
But her exhibit, The Ordinary Reoriented, is now on display at the Akron Art Museum, featuring her intriguingly cockeyed paintings that scramble space and angles and perspective so that figures engaged in every-day activities are doing so in an imaginary setting that could not exist, defying the rules of nature. That the figures resemble wooden toys or cartoon figures and her color schemes are odd adds another layer of unreality.
According to Akron Art Museum Chief Curator Ellen Rudolph, “Larsen’s scenes should delight and confound viewers as they examine the impossible spatial structures that house the kinds of familiar situations we find ourselves in every day. Through her masterful construction of space, she is able to disorient-or reorient-workaday scenes to tease out the underlying psychological and interpersonal dynamics.”
Rudolph will host a conversation with Larsen at the museum, followed by a public reception. Admission is free but seating is limited. To assure yourself of a spot, register here.
The show is on view through 9/8.
Akron, OH 44308