Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2022
Larry received his MFA in Ceramics from the University of Nebraska in 2017. He has shown work at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California and the Bemis Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Larry’s work will also be exhibited at the 2024 NCECA “Annual” Exhibition in Richmond, Virginia.
He has completed artist residencies at Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado and at the Center for Ceramics in Berlin, Germany. Larry was a short-term artist in residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center in the winter of 2022. Recently, he was awarded the McKnight Artist Residency at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Larry maintains an active studio practice and is a part-time lecturer in the art department at the University of Nebraska.
I create art that critiques societal power structures that seek to marginalize LGBTQIA communities. At first glance, my work presents as Rococo inspired domestic ceramic ware – sumptuously embellished. Upon closer inspection, viewers discover a playful, but subversive intention. I relish fusing symbols of Christianity with those of gay sexual fetishes such as leather daddies, puppy play, and bondage. In showcasing this work, I seek to upend the obedience shown to Christ by devout Christians to also include fetishized roles within the gay community. In this sub-culture of men, unquestioned obedience to one’s Daddy or Sir or Master is an unconventional path to salvation. My kitschy knock offs of high-brow ceramic forms question the arbitrary hierarchy of what is deemed respectable and considered to be in good taste by the dominate culture.
I use slip and press-mold processes and sprig molds to embellish my work. These methods satisfy my desire to create multiples and ultimately installations in which each piece contributes to a broader narrative. My use of gold luster, foil trims, fur and fancy velvet covered display shelves harken to the ostentatious performative nature of drag and flamboyant mid-nineteenth century Rococo.