The Whitney Visual Explorer

Artist Biennial

Larry Clark

1943–

78 works in the collection 12 exhibitions at the Whitney

Biography

Larry Clark began using a camera in the mid-1950s while working as an assistant to his mother, an itinerant portraitist, and quickly achieved notoriety as a photographer with the publication of his first book, Tulsa, in 1971. Shot between 1963 and 1971, the powerful images in the book defiantly document sex, drug use, and violence among teenagers in his hometown, providing a dark counterpoint to the idealized youth culture of the same period. Tulsa established Clark as a pioneer in a mode of photography that pushed the boundaries of not only acceptable subject matter but also the relationship between the photographer and his subjects. As Clark noted in the book’s short introductory statement, “when i was sixteen i started shooting amphetamine. i shot with my friends everyday for three years and then left town but i’ve gone back through the years. once the needle goes in it never comes out.”

Untitled, an image from Tulsa, features a young man pointing a gun at a target off camera, with an American flag hanging askew on the wall in the background. The raw and symbolic content of the image is matched by the harsh light from the window. Clark has noted, “When I’m photographing I always try to shoot against the light . . . the film can’t handle this and everything gets burned up, since I’m exposing for the shadows.” His haunting photographs similarly reveal the shadows of adolescence in a culture that both glorifies and brutally commodifies youth. Although Clark has gone on to become an acclaimed filmmaker, his intimate and uninhibited approach to photography, epitomized by Tulsa, has influenced generations of artists, from Nan Goldin to Ryan McGinley.

Works in the collection

Showing the first 60 of 78 works. Browse all 78 →

Exhibitions at the Whitney