Lawrence (Larry) Poons

Larry Poons established himself in New York City in 1958 at the age of 21, where his career as an artist flourished. He transitioned through several distinct phases of artistic style, aligning himself most notably with the Color Field and Op Art movements. By the latter half of the 1960s, Poons’ ever-evolving method of painting resulted in highly spontaneous and intuitive works, incorporating new media and techniques that would be the hallmark of mid-century abstract art. “He wanted to make paintings based on paint’s materiality, which looked as good as paint itself does. For him, paint was the essential nature of painting, not flatness.[1]

The 1970s would see Poons diverge from the flat, hard-edged precision of his earlier paintings, resulting in gestural, textured canvases. “Eventually Poons came to feel that the purely optical approach to making art was restricting, and in the late 1970s he began to work by pouring and throwing paint on the canvas […] in an attempt to compose a painting without leaving traces of the artist’s hand. It was also during this period that he began attaching miscellaneous materials to the canvas—foam balls, for example, or rope.”[2]

This trajectory led Poons to a new body of work known as the “elephant skin” paintings, so named by the art critic Michael Fried, who stated: “The ‘skin’ of paint is very aggressive on its own terms [acting] as a barrier, like some impenetrable bark, leprous skin, or lava flow.[3] These works, known for their thick, wrinkled surfaces, were achieved by pouring layers of acrylic paint and then manipulating the drying process, often by tilting or folding the canvas, which allowed for a myriad of colours to interact with the applied sculptural elements.

A highly tactile work, With Stevens, 88C-9 (1988) is one of the last paintings from the “elephant skin” series. Its built surface, laden with dripped and pooled acrylic paint, exemplifies Poons’ penchant for new materials, processes, and the element of chance. The resulting painting is complex, featuring a range of textures from smooth and glossy to rough and cracked. With Stevens, 88C-9 was shown for the first time at the Andre Emmerich Gallery in New York the year it was completed. Poons’ artwork of the 1990s would see yet another pivot, his return to the paint brush and evidence of the artist’s hand.

[1] Lilly Wei. “Larry Poons: The Maverick.” Art & Antiques, Fall 2019. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.artandantiquesmag.com/larry-poons/
[2] “Larry Poons – Artists – Yares Art.” https://www.yaresart.com/artists/larry-poons#tab:slideshow.
[3] Jeff Perrone. n.d. Review of Larry Poons. Artforum. Accessed April 19, 2025. https://www.artforum.com/events/larry-poons-5-229736/