Robert Barry
, June 26th, 2021 08:15
With a survey of half a century of work currently on view at Almine Rech, American painter Larry Poons talks about Beethoven, baseball, and the teacher who believed in him as an artist before he did himself
Larry Poons (2019) Warrior River Boy. Acrylic on canvas
170.2 x 281.9 cm
“Painting is a fast medium. You go from here to there with a substance – and you do it quickly.” For Larry Poons everything is fast. Everything is immediate. Everything is now. So much so that talking about how you actually get there is liable to make him impatient.
When I ask about the process behind a particular work in his new show, his response is sharp, almost brusque. “What do you want to know?” he says. “Painting involves moving the colour from one place to another. That’s painting, whether you’re Rembrandt or you’re Joe Schmo.”