Larry G. Hurst

Painting, Collage, Sculpture

Often described as “non-objective” my practice involves tapping into the emotional and intuitive response to making artwork. I believe in finding the moment when the artist is being led as much by the art as by his, or hers, own conscious decision making. This is where the true magic lives. My focus is on composition, harmony and color with a prevalent awareness of balance. I seek to communicate on a fundamental, emotional level.

Artists who have strongly influenced me include Ruth Asawa, John McLaughlin, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko and Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Artists of significant sculptural influence for me include H. C. Westermann, Isamu Noguchi and Constantin Brancusi. These artists, and others like them, followed their own unique paths. Studying their work has been instrumental in my own evolution as an artist.

When I was a child my family moved a lot. From Lamar, Missouri, where I was born, we lived in Yakutat, Alaska; Winslow, Arizona; Anchorage, Alaska; Lamar, Missouri (again) and then Santa Ana, California. All by the time I was in high school.

With this transient life style we were often leaving old friends and trying to make new ones, not an easy thing for a kid. I spent a lot of time alone and found my solace in the arts. By the time I was in high school I had set up a studio in our home garage, where I began experimenting with painting.

After graduation I headed to Los Angeles to study at Chouinard Art Institute, now known as California Institute of the Arts, or CalArts.

Chouinard changed my life. This was the pre-eminent art school on the West Coast with an electric, wildly creative and competitive atmosphere. Our instructors were successful and legendary artists including Emerson Woelffer, Herbert Jepson, Frederick Hammersley and Matsumi Kanemitsu, to name a few.

When I graduated my exhibition career began. Through the following years in Los Angeles
I exhibited with Space, Adrienne Simard, Roy Boyd, Jan Turner, Simard & Halm, Jan Baum, Koplin, Cirrus and Hunsaker/Schlesinger galleries. Other exhibitions include those at Arco Center for Visual Art, Oceanside Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, Pasadena City College Art Gallery, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Kellogg University Art Gallery at Cal-Poly Pomona.

My exhibitions out of state include those at Alan Brown Gallery, New York City; 63 Bluxome Street Gallery, San Francisco; Visual Art Center of Alaska, Anchorage and Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago.

My work is also in many public, corporate and private collections, including those of Hyatt Hotels, Bank of America, Harrah’s Corporation, Hallmark Corporation, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Medical Plaza, The Scripps Research Institute, IBM Corporation, Southern California Gas Company, Peabody Hotels & Resorts, Mobil Oil Corporation, The Weisman Family Foundation and Princess Enterprises.