Mernet Larsen draws from a diverse array of influences, from the non-objective geometries of Russian Constructivism to Bunraku puppet theater, taking compositional cues from art of the past as springboards for uniquely spatial figure-paintings that speak to the anxieties of the present. Beach (2020) responds to a 1919-20 composition by El Lissitzky, which to Larsen “suggested a tall man (hunter or sniper) looking down on a beach with two tiny people far away (dead or sunbathing).” The cliché beach scene, in Larsen’s hands, becomes animated by conflict when working backward from abstraction. Veronica Roberts writes of Larsen’s work, “Brimming with mordant humor, Mernet Larsen’s unsettling paintings provide a mirror to our anxious times. Through unexpected compositional moves [...] she transforms these prosaic moments into psychological dramas that hint at the dislocations, disruptions, and dread that fill our lives, especially at a time marked by political and cultural upheaval....”