VALERIE LARKO: Location, Location, Location 2

March 1 – 27, 2016
Opening Reception: Sunday, Mar. 6, 2 - 4 p.m.

Through thousands of hours of plein air painting, NY artist, Valeri Larko urgently captures the fleeting images of graffiti strewn buildings in NY’s outer boroughs. In doing so, she carries on the American Landscape tradition of documenting the shifting forces that define our national character.

VALERI LARKO: Artist Statement
 
"For most of my career I have been fascinated by the built world and in particular the jumble of rusting industrial sites, aging infrastructure and funky waterways that populated the outskirts of America’s urban centers and the stories these places tell about contemporary life and culture. All of my landscapes are painted on location. I spend hours roaming around an area until I find something that resonates with me. Once I do, I set up my easel and return to a site many times. A large painting can take up to two and a half months to complete. The process of painting on location over a long period of time is crucial to my working method because it allows me to form a deeper connection to a particular place through careful observation and personal interaction with the people I meet there. While talking to people in the area, I learn a lot about the sites that I am painting. Growing up and living in Northern New Jersey most of my life surrounded by endless miles of industrial parks, highways and shopping malls has contributed to my fascination with the built environment. In 2004, I moved from my long-time residence in New Jersey to New Rochelle, New York. Since then I have been painting in the outer boroughs of New York City, primarily in the Bronx but also in Brooklyn and Queens New York.”

Valeri Larko’s  Artist Bio

Valeri Larko’s paintings have been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in the US and Europe. Exhibitions include The Bronx Museum, NY, Bronx River Art Center, NY, Bronx Borough Presidents Art Gallery, The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, The Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ, The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, The College of New Rochelle, NY, Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, Barbara Frigerio Gallery, Milan, Italy, The Katonah Museum of Art, NY, The Jersey City Museum, The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, Aljira, a center for contemporary Art, Newark NJ, Bruton Street Gallery, London, England.