Artist Dara Larson is an aficionado of travel and this is a driving influence in her production of work that includes multimedia installations and two-dimensional photographic collages. Albeit different mediums, they are all like kaleidoscopes of people and places. The pictured locations in her art range from local Milwaukee streets to Argentinian landmarks, but all are produced with a sense of form that remains constant.
A few dozen pieces are on view at Latino Arts in the exhibition “Gardens, Gods & Grids: Retracing Nature, Culture, & Infrastructure in the Americas.” Many of these reflect her time spent in Central and South America. Urban architecture is a dominant theme and Larson seems to develop this motif particularly with interest in structures and repeated forms. Using a large digital print format, her compositions are cut apart, fractured, mirrored and enhanced so that the colors achieve an intense saturation. One such piece, Basilica Guadalupe (Mexico), blends near and distant photographs of a famous church in Mexico City. Images are shot from various vantage points and layered with roses and congregants. The effect is dreamlike—as though recalling a slew of experiences in a single moment.
This simultaneous effect is also used in pieces combining multiple scenic locations. The North America Installation (Canada, Niagara Falls, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Kansas, St. Louis, San Diego, San Simeon, Tijuana, Ensenada, Rosarito Beach) is like a compendium of travel, as disparate images are combined in large-scale wall pieces that hang like vertical travelogues. One image melds into the next as though riding along a rambling interstate or crossing multiple geographic divides.
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Her three-dimensional installations follow suit. Maps are torn and folded to create topographies that support various artifacts and mementos. Fragments repeat until they form something akin to pattern and a rhythmic structural organization. The largest installation looms in the gallery like an altar of commemoration, honoring cultural traditions and customs.
Like travel photographs, Larson’s images tell just part of a story; like memory, they are proxies for the artist’s experiences; as art, they emphasize the structural details of line, color, pattern and design.
Through Feb. 26 at Latino Arts, 1028 S. Ninth St.
