Mernet Larsen, a distinguished artist, recently provided insights into her seminal work, 'Getting Measured' (1999), which graced the cover of the Winter 2025 edition of Art in America. From her studio in Tampa, Florida, Larsen illuminated the creative journey that led to this pivotal piece. She recounted her transition from abstract painting to a more figurative style, driven by a desire to depict people, places, and everyday objects, while deliberately avoiding conventional realism. Her approach involved using an existing abstract work as a foundational element, transforming it into a narrative-rich composition.
Larsen's artistic evolution took a significant turn when she revisited an unfinished 12th-century Japanese painting of the Katano Shrine, finding profound inspiration in its composition. She contemplated how to imbue this ancient structure with a contemporary narrative, treating it like a Rorschach test to uncover its inherent meaning. This led her to the concept of measurement, drawing from childhood memories of making and altering clothes. The artist then consciously adopted parallel perspective, a technique historically used in 12th-century Japanese narrative painting and by architects, where parallel lines maintain their orientation rather than converging, creating a distinct visual experience.
She meticulously adhered to her 12th-century source, rotating the original frontal view into a three-quarter perspective. Larsen's intention was to create a sense of solidity, inferring volume before applying color, much like a coloring book. This deliberate simplification aimed to keep the focus on the created space and her statement regarding reality and perception. At the time, she viewed this method as a singular experiment, unaware it would shape her artistic practice for the subsequent 25 years.
Another significant work, 'Indecisive Woman,' a self-portrait, further explored her burgeoning style. In this piece, she depicted a female character in a three-quarter view, utilizing geometric forms and parallel perspective. Intriguingly, the background's deep hallway was rendered using one-point perspective, deliberately juxtaposing various perspectival techniques within a single canvas. Larsen emphasized that perspective, for her, is merely a tool, a 'gadget' to manipulate perception rather than a representation of objective reality. By leaving a slight margin around the canvas edges, she aimed to prevent the illusion of an abrupt drop-off, fostering a sense of ambiguity regarding the viewer's position within the painting, inviting them to inhabit the space alongside the depicted figures.
Mernet Larsen's narrative of her artistic process underscores a deliberate and innovative approach to painting. Her shift from abstraction to a unique form of figuration, inspired by historical art and personal experiences, demonstrates a profound engagement with the nature of perception and artistic representation. By challenging traditional notions of realism and perspective, Larsen has forged a distinctive visual language that invites viewers to question their own understanding of space and reality within her captivating works.