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 Researching the history of the people he paints and sculpts, Mike Larsen spends much of his studio time with books. Accuracy in regalia and dress tell much about his subjects. For over forty years, he has spent his life as a full time artist.
Born in 1944 of Chickasaw heritage, Mike grew up in farming communities in Oklahoma and Texas. Beginning at Amarillo Junior College, continuing at the University of Houston and concluding at the prestigious Arts Student League in New York City, Mike studied traditional art disciplines.
Mike is well known for his use of exaggerated hand size. Though this trademark began accidentally and without planning, he has carried it forward and it is one way to quickly identify a Larsen painting.
Starting his career doing street fairs, he rapidly progressed to nationally known art festivals. That phase ended in the early 1990's and for the past 15 years he has been represented by galleries throughout the United States. Mike spends most of his time creating paintings and sculpture commissioned by governments, corporations and individuals.
Mike's love for painting and sculpting dancing figures began when he was commissioned by the State of Oklahoma to paint a 26 foot long mural for the Capitol Rotunda of five internationally prominent ballet dancers, all born in the state. He has been honored to paint eight murals - four about teaching the arts and four about local Native American history - for the Oklahoma Art Institute and six murals for the University of Oklahoma Reynolds Performing Arts Center and School of Dance.
Recently Mike was chosen by the United States Postal Service to create a postage stamp commemorating Oklahoma's centennial. He has also been commissioned by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission to create two larger than life size bronze statues symbolizing the arts in Oklahoma. Both will be placed at the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall and both will be available in maquette size to individual collectors.
Last year brought the opportunity to paint living elders of the Chickasaw Nation - members of Mike's own tribe. What started as a "project" turned into a labor of love for Mike and wife Martha as they have been given the opportunity to interview elders of Mike's tribe, make a photographic and audio study of them and portray these new found friends in "family" portraits. True to Mike's nature, this has become both a tutorial in history and painterly scholarship. |
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