Juxtaposition: Lawrence "Larry" Carroll (1954-2019)
When I think of Larry, I think of him in jeans, a t-shirt, and casual slip-on shoes . . . I now realize he was only in his late 30's . . . but as a 22 year old at the time, he seemed much older to me.
Here's an image of him from his early 60's . . .
I was very sad to hear that he died this last Tuesday at the far too young age of 64.
An Art Center student of Barron Storey's, and Vince Robbins, and influential to Matt Mahurin, Doug Aitken, James Fish, and many others.
No one would look at his work . . . and look at mine, and imagine he had any influence at all on me as a young artist . . . but he did. His class wasn't about drawing, but learning how to "think" about art. In 1991, in (I think) his first class returning to Art Center, it was an "all-star" roster of students, who had all signed up for his class and were desperately trying to impress him.
Reviewing us each in turn as we presented samples of our work apologetically, ("I need to get better with color" . . . "I need to find my style" . . . "I need to work on my figure drawing" . . .) he stopped about a third of the way through the class review:
It was both a depressing thought, but also an honest tonic that "stuck", and I've shared it myself with many of my students---I have also found it to be very accurate. It was the genesis of my "Suck Less" admonition.
He was one of the most successful fine artists I'd ever met, and yet was the least pretentious, honest, (to the point of vulnerability), sincere, and devoid of "artspeak". The other fine artists said "dialogue" and "elliptical" when they meant "talk" and "circular", and wore their shirts buttoned to the top button, sans tie . . . Larry came in wearing flip flops and his t-shirt and told us true personal stories about struggling to make it, feeling professional jealousy, insecurities post-success, his dad using his art as a beer coaster, and how he could never cook the same recipe twice.
He was honest with us, which is a tremendous gift a teacher can provide to students.
He was also hugely influential to many younger artists, and we know it, even if the wider world does not.
ART is a small world . . . I stumbled upon the news this week as the article said:
"Legendary SLAYER Cover Artist LARRY CARROLL Dead At 65"
and I thought . . . "huh?" (I didn't know of Larry's album art)
Sad to discover it was the same Larry Carroll I knew.
Ironically, the daughter of Slayer band member Gary Holt is a former student of mine . . . note the SHM logo T-shirt far left . . .
RIP Larry, you were a great teacher. It saddens me to think you are no longer with us.
Here's an image of him from his early 60's . . .
An Art Center student of Barron Storey's, and Vince Robbins, and influential to Matt Mahurin, Doug Aitken, James Fish, and many others.
Reviewing us each in turn as we presented samples of our work apologetically, ("I need to get better with color" . . . "I need to find my style" . . . "I need to work on my figure drawing" . . .) he stopped about a third of the way through the class review:
"You guys need to understand . . . the way you feel about your work right now is the way you will feel about your work the rest of your life!"
It was both a depressing thought, but also an honest tonic that "stuck", and I've shared it myself with many of my students---I have also found it to be very accurate. It was the genesis of my "Suck Less" admonition.
He was one of the most successful fine artists I'd ever met, and yet was the least pretentious, honest, (to the point of vulnerability), sincere, and devoid of "artspeak". The other fine artists said "dialogue" and "elliptical" when they meant "talk" and "circular", and wore their shirts buttoned to the top button, sans tie . . . Larry came in wearing flip flops and his t-shirt and told us true personal stories about struggling to make it, feeling professional jealousy, insecurities post-success, his dad using his art as a beer coaster, and how he could never cook the same recipe twice.
He was honest with us, which is a tremendous gift a teacher can provide to students.
He was also hugely influential to many younger artists, and we know it, even if the wider world does not.
ART is a small world . . . I stumbled upon the news this week as the article said:
"Legendary SLAYER Cover Artist LARRY CARROLL Dead At 65"
and I thought . . . "huh?" (I didn't know of Larry's album art)
Sad to discover it was the same Larry Carroll I knew.
Ironically, the daughter of Slayer band member Gary Holt is a former student of mine . . . note the SHM logo T-shirt far left . . .
RIP Larry, you were a great teacher. It saddens me to think you are no longer with us.
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