This is a book of painter Lari Pittman’s older work from 1992-1998. I just happen to pick this book up a few years ago when browsing the New Museum bookstore. I had never heard of the artist but was immediately drawn to the collaged graphic style of his works. My first impression was he used the computer and these were big Adobe Illustrator printouts. I was pleased looking up the medium and finding out they were acrylic and enamel or oil on panel. Parts of them are so flat, other parts have nicely shaded texture. Text or iconic symbols like credit card logos and Rx signs are sometimes worked into the compositions. Patterns decorate the space everywhere making the images densely packed. The paintings seem to be about death and homosexuality but only when you look at them long enough. They seem bright and cheerful otherwise with acrobats flying through them. Art from the nineties sometimes seems “so nineties” and the colors make me want to puke. But Lari’s colors still work for me and the style seems to fit into what’s currently popular. His more recent work is different. It seems more like surreal spaces and less graphic with more subtle muted colors. I like these too. They are pretty unique. I like that he mixes in lots of decorative arts. Check out his work here and learn more about him here. This book is out of print but maybe you can find it randomly somewhere like I did.

© Julia Rothman 2007