The Larson's Collaborative Journey

Dean and Laura Larson have a combined history of approximately 90 years of experience in the field of art. They have both show individually, extensively, regionally in California, nationally in the U.S. and also internationally. Their longevity derives from their passion for the arts. Their inspiration comes from many places, quite often each other. After 36 years of marriage, they have found that not only do they complete each other’s sentences, but they also complete each other’s digitally manipulated images.

Drawing from Dean’s love of architecture and Laura’s fascination with figurative sculpture, they began combining their photographic images from various locations, especially from Europe. Their collaborative exhibitions touch on the plight of animal extinction by using the parlance of storytelling, through digital images and sculptures. For the past decade Laura has been creating small bronze sculptures of animal/human hybrid creatures, which magically, after hours of persuasion and digital manipulation began showing up in Dean’s photographs.  Each year there are more characters added as Laura sculpts and then casts new bronze creatures. New photographs are jointly created using Laura’s creatures as actors in the surreal story with Dean’s photographs setting the stage.

In 2016 they exhibiting their collaborative work with  A Journey In Time at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles. 
In Dean and Laura Larson’s A Journey in Time, hybrid animal-human creatures navigate and traverse sites of a bygone age. These anthropomorphic creatures, also known as The Mourners, wander throughout these locales, taking in the sights of opulence, nobility, and the influence of power. Robed in their mourning cloaks, The Mourners lament their surroundings. The grand architecture that once symbolized prosperity stands now as the remnants of a recklessly indulgent society.

In 2017 A Journey In Time: Part 2 at the Fine Arts Building.
A Journey in Time, Part II continues The Mourners’ surreal journey within the vestiges of human civilization. They begin to realize the scope of carnage, carved by the hands of mankind. Concern sets in and urgency begins to grow amongst The Mourners. The threat to Earth’s fauna becomes the focal point of their assessments. As a result, seven ambassadors from The Mourners step up to form a group called The Council of the Fluid Age. Each ambassador representing a continent on Earth, with the group as a whole advocating for the preservation of all species. 

In 2018 The Council Gathers in Time, for the Los Angeles Art Association
The Council Gathers in Time chronicles the travels of The Council of the Fluid Age from The Journey in Time, Part II and their quest to determine the cause of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. Their story is presented chronologically from The Council’s encounters with the earliest age of mankind up to the modern era. It begins with their initial journey from their home planet to an early Earth. As they advance throughout time, they are again met with the structures of opulence as markers of destruction. It culminates in a meeting of The Council, in which they discuss the means of rebuilding and healing.

In 2022 Once Upon A Time –When Form was Fluid debuted, once again at the Fine Arts Building
Once Upon A Time When Form Was Fluid explores the utopian-like home planet of The Council of the Fluid Age and The Mourners. In this world, the hybrid animal-human creatures live in an idealized society, developing beyond the Earth’s own. Their home planet presents itself as the result of a collective investment and consideration of ecology. This visualized paradise provides an optimistic glimpse at an alternate route that humanity can take for its own planet.

In The Mourning Processional
Laura Larson
In The Mourning Processional is a series of small bronze sculptures of hybrid animal-human creatures. Inspired by the poem “Roll Call” by poet William Stafford, the sculptures feature animals that are listed as either endangered or threatened species. They represent a collective of beings who grieve the state of ecologic affairs on Earth and reflect on mankind’s destructive tendencies. These creatures make up The Mourners and The Council of The Fluid Age, as well as the protagonists in additional works by Dean and Laura Larson.