Larry Stark

12/24/40--Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan

1959-1963--Studied mathematics, worked as an accountant, and wondered why.

1963-1965--Studied art at Illinois Tech and the U of Michigan (Bachelors degree).

1968--Lived in San Francisco. Traveled via freight train to Chicago and made first print at friends house on the inside jacket cover of copy of Big Brother & The Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills” album. Returned to San Francisco and produced 15 editions of prints in 3 months.

1969---First exhibition at Mandrake Gallery in San Francisco which was the last show they had before going out of business. Started traveling around the USA going door to door to museums selling art and arranging exhibitions. The art consisted of photo screen prints, mostly black and white high contrast, with an occasional solid color to make an area stand out. The imagery ranged from nudes with hair dryers asabstractions, to the use of the highway.

1970--Continued to travel and use the highway as a source of inspiration. Sold work to over thirty museums. A grant from the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover MA funded a conceptual art project, traveling 9,500 miles, eating only at McDonald’s hamburger establishments and printing 12 photo-screen prints of McDonalds called “One Culture Under God”.

1971--First New York City exhibition was at Feigen Graphics. Continued traveling selling art work to 30 more museums. Completed “Self Portrait” portfolio consisting of ten wallet documents.

1972--Exhibition at Castelli Graphics. Made 50 print portfolio called “The United States of America in the Early 1970’s, each print made from a photograph taken in a different state. Started series of unique 4 color screen prints on canvas. Theme: US culture is very homogenized.

1973--Printed series of nature images on both canvas and paper. Exhibition at Castelli Graphics of the “USA in the Early 1970’s” portfolio

1974--Produced 46”x66” screen prints on canvas in small editions. Did two lithographs published by Landfall Press.

1975--Received grant from Phillips Academy to produce 18 canvas editions of freeway interchanges and bridges called “Monuments of the Western World.” Theme: USA interstate system equivalent to Roman aqueducts, European cathedrals and the great pyramids of Egypt. Exhibition at Castelli SoHo of the 1974 canvases.

1976--"Monuments Of the Western World" exhibition toured to six museums. Owned asparagus farm; Picked asparagus, ate asparagus omelets and grilled asparagus cheese sandwiches and raw asparagus every day for seven weeks each year and gave the rest of it away. Started doing corporate and portrait commissions.

1977--Produced lithograph at Illinois State University visiting artist workshop.

1978-1978--Spent this time experimenting with new ideas and producing canvases and paper editions of abstract water images.

1980--Started series of mezzotint four color process prints of agricultural and nature images.

1981-1987--Continued mezzotint four color process prints. Traveled the country photographing Americana and landscapes.

1988--Started fishouse project; A book, 12 photoscreen prints, an exhibition, a live-in-a-fishouse-for-a-month conceptual art experience, a design competition involving several chapters of the American Institute of Architects. Theme: Fishouses as folk architecture.

1992--"Fishouses of the Great North" started its tour at the Minnesota Museum of Art in St Paul.

1990-Present--Worked on and finished the fishouse prints. Started and finished “Fishing America-A Work of Art”; consisting of fishing all 50 states as art, creating photo-screen prints for each state, writing and publishing a newsletter. Like the dog in "Travels With Charlie" or the centerlines in "Blue Line Highways" or the boat in "Old Glory", Fishing is what brought everything together for a focus on American culture and American landscape.

1996-1997--Took break from “Fishing America-A Work of Art” to work on a conceptual art project, a CSA, called "The Ondo Dondo Real Food Farm".