I first saw Kylan Larson’s work at the ‘Horses & Babies 4 Sale‘ group show at Fifty24SF Gallery back in 2004, which was curated by Marsea Goldberg from New Image Art Gallery. The imagery in the show mainly focused on buildings, which were drawn with black lines with areas of flat muted color. I really dug the work, and was hoping to see more from him, but he sort of disappeared from the art scene.

Turns out Kylan was busy with a day job as an art director for a men’s clothing company, and only turned out 2 large scale paintings over the course of three years. He recently left that gig and is now focusing more attention on his art … lucky for us. Here’s a mini profile of Kylan, with pics of recent work.

Age / Location / Art Education
25 years of age, currently located in Southern California. My art education is as extensive as working for minimum wage in a retail art store, all the way to a single night class taught at a local college. Mostly self-taught.

How did you get started in art?
It’s always been my main interest and throughout my schooling years when the teacher would slap a test down on the desk in front of me, I would flip it over, draw something on the back, and turn it in for a grade. After graduating with a 1.2 GPA, I wasn’t left with many options.

Which artists have influenced you, and where do you get your inspiration?
I’m influenced by another artist, it seems, every other week. A bit of time passes and I’ve moved on to obsessing over someone or something else. I’m inspired by urban environments and their scampering populace.

What’s your typical process for creating art?
I approach it all different. I can say that for better or mostly worse, I never sketch anything out. I’m all about instant gratification and when I want to do something I’ll just get right down to it. At the same time, I am very technical.

Can you explain some of the common themes in your work and what it represents?
Key words I can’t fit into a sentence are: detachment, smoke, vices, cynicism, vastness, divisive, sarcasm, indulgence, angles, destruction.

I think it is important for an artist to talk about what they do, and I’m working on that. At the same time, I am slightly more interested in what others take from ones work without reading a press release put out by a gallery. People have brought up things about me by seeing my work that I wasn’t aware of, but they were right, and I like that. But like I said, I’m working on it.

What goes on in a normal day for you?
Stay up as late as I can. Sleep in as late as I can. Otherwise my days are boring. When I have to work, I work. When I have to eat, I eat. After the day’s over is what I’m all about. I’m glad you didn’t ask me what I do then.

Favorite music?
Canadian indie rock and cocaine rap.

What are your interests outside of art?
Film, books, architecture. I still consider those things art though. Traveling? I do like to spend time at the bar and I’m becoming a bigger fan of water than I was before. I want to go cliff jumping.

Which contemporary artists are you digging?
I wish I could paint like Anna Conway. Chris Ware’s comics, or anything else he does. The Haikus of Mark Mulroney. The architecture and cow paintings of Knud Friis. My buddies Sam & Jeff have a pretty good thing going.

What are you working on now? Any shows coming up?
Right now, I’m just working on finishing up a couple larger scale works I (over) ambitiously started. Once I’m happy with them I’ll start thinking about shows.

To see more Kylan’s work visit kylanlarson.com