'Intersection (after El Lissitzky)' (2020) depicts a man in a wheelchair at a fork in the sidewalk, accompanied by his dog. A red truck on a highway recedes into the...
"Intersection (after El Lissitzky)" (2020) depicts a man in a wheelchair at a fork in the sidewalk, accompanied by his dog. A red truck on a highway recedes into the distance. The highway is rendered in reverse perspective—things get larger, rather than smaller, as they recede, so the red truck interacts visually with the characters in the foreground, and the highway clicks into the intersection. The mood of the painting is ambiguous. At first glance, the man in the wheelchair appears to be popping a playful wheelie, yet he is balanced precariously at an intersection which is undeniably dangerous. Larsen combines contradictory spatial approaches and layers different languages of painting within the composition to create an uncertain situation. The painting’s psychological complexity is revealed by close looking.