Sunday, 14 November 2010

Larry Clarke


(image courtesy of vingtparismagazine.com)


(image courtesy of odaaniepce.wordpress.com)


(image courtesy of www.catch-fire.com)

I have chosen to discuss Clark's work in a slightly different way to that in which Cartier Bresson was treated. Admittedly my knowledge of Clark's work is tenfold greater than that of Cartier Bresson. Being a fan of first his photography; but now an avid fan of all of his films I feel our connection as artist and viewer has grown stronger still.

Unlike many creators of both the moving and the still image Clark makes no attempt to erect a facade between his viewers and his message. His early photography (all of the above images are taken from his 1971 book 'Tulsa') seems to be the foundation of his films; and they're all from personal experience which makes his tales all the more relatable.

Tulsa begins with a short introduction from Clark: "I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1943. When I was sixteen I started shooting amphetamine. I shot amphetamine with my friends everyday for three years and then I left town but I've gone back through the years. Once the needle goes in it never comes out."

A big part of Clark's work his unique ability to provide shock factor. The three included images illustrate three very prominent sides of Clark's ferociously honest depictions of kids in the 'burbs.

We see a young man posing with a gun in the most disturbingly nonchalant way, we have two young women making love in a bath tub and one of Clark's speed-freak friend's shooting up in the bath. Even when Clark's images appear posed, or that he had offered some form of direction to his subjects there is still an overriding voyeuristic element. Clark honestly offers his unadulterated documentary of a middle class teenage drug culture that was unheard of at the time of photography (early 1960s) and publication (1971) and he forced american society to view and accept that this was going on right beneath the public's noses.

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