TED LARSEN | Wet Wig

“Henry David Thoreau said it best: “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” Everything involves compromises.  We give and take to find our place and balance in all things. Life is the exchange. We must sort the wheat from the chaff.  Purity comes from distillation. Through a process of removal, things become more clear. What is removed can be as important as what remains.

The work in this exhibition was created over the past twelve months. The surfaces are primarily constructed from salvage steel, with one exception and that piece uses an old salvage DOT sign.  These pre-painted surfaces hold glory and a timeless historical quality to them. I work to both remove visual barriers and add a few unexpected twists to seeing. I work to both create pattern and eliminate it at the same time. It is an awkward balance, just as life is.

“Wet Wig” is an exhibition of work with no specific meaning or didactic purpose other than visual expression. That said, the amount of life I exchanged for this creative process has a lot of meaning for me.  I find my way in life by giving into this bargain. I am all the richer for having made the deal. I invite the viewer to see what they might discover in the work. Maybe there is a good exchange waiting to happen.”

– Ted Larsen

 Ted Larsen is an internationally exhibiting artist and Pollock-Krasner Foundation recipient with a BA from Northern Arizona University. Larsen is included in the permanent collections of The New Mexico Museum of Art, The Palm Springs Art Museum, The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, The Edward F. Albee Foundation, Proctor & Gamble, The Bolivian Consulate, Reader's Digest, PepsiCo, The University of Miami, The University of Texas, Krasel Art Center, Dreyfus Funds, JP Morgan Chase, Forbes and Pioneer Hi-Bred, Inc. His work has been exhibited widely in museums in the US, including the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, The Albuquerque Museum, The Amarillo Museum of Art, The Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Larsen is currently part of a two-person exhibition with Troels Aagaard at Denmark’s Esbjerg Kunstmuseum through September 3, 2023. He has received grants from the Surdna Foundation and the Pollock Krasner Foundation, as well as residencies with the Edward F. Albee Foundation and Asilah Arts Festival in Morocco, where he was selected to be the USA representative. He has guest lectured at The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts in Greenville, South Carolina; the University of Art and Design in Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California; The New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Texas Society of Architects, Dallas, Texas. Larsen has been featured in Art in America, ArtNews, SouthWest Art, Mountain Living, Architectural Digest, Sculpture Magazine, and Art Gallery International magazines. He has had reviews in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post and The Dallas Morning News amongst others. Larsen's work appears in the books Art on The Edge, Biennial Southwest, The Curtain of Trees, New American Paintings, and Millennium Collection. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) produced an interview with Larsen.