Born in Tokyo, Japan, Larry Poons became a prominent figure in Optical Art and in the Color-Field school of painting in New York. His paintings of the 1960s were characterized by dots of color placed according to a horizontal vertical and diagonal grid against a rich colored ground. The effect was a sense of movement--thus Optical Art. In 1965, he exhibited with the Op Artists, but the next year, his art became looser with small colored shapes floating in space. From that time, he changed to expressionism and abstraction. Poons has also created Earth Art such as his "cracked earth landscapes". For these he uses layers of heavy impasto to create the effect of flowing lava and craggy plateaus.

A musician before becoming a painter, Larry Poons studied at the New England Conservatory of Music from 1955 to 1957, and was much influenced by the experimental compositions of John Cage. His interest in abstraction, especially the geometric forms of Piet Mondrian led him to painting, and in 1959, he studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. He resides in New York City and has maintained a studio in Florida.

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2009      

Danese, New York, NY

2008      

Jacobson Howard Gallery, New York, NY

2007      

Danese, New York, NY

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK

2005      

Jacobson Howard Gallery, New York, NY

Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2004      

Jacobson Howard Gallery, New York, NY

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK

2002      

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK

2001      

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

2000      

Galeria Metta, Madrid, Spain

Theo Waddington Gallery, Boca Raton, FL

Perrella Gallery, Johnstown, NY

1998      

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

1997      

Art in Public, Geneva, Switzerland

Larry Evans/James Willis and Fredrick Spatt Gallery, San Jose, CA

Claudia Carr Gallery, New York, NY

1996

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, CA

1995

Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

1994

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, CA

1993

University of Miami, Miami, FL

1992

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Berlin, Germany

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY

1991

Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Beverly Hills, CA

Gallerias Afinsa-Lagasca and Afinsa-Almirante, Madrid, Spain

Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

1990

Helander Gallery, Palm Beach, FL

Salander-O'Reillly Galleries, New York, NY

1989 Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

Galerie Montaigne, Paris, France

1988

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

1986

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

1985

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

1984 Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

1983 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

1982

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

Theo Waddington Gallery, Montreal, Canada

Hett Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

1981

Galerie Ninety-Nine, Bay Harbor Islands, FL

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Richard Hines Gallery, Seattle, WA

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

1980

Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Austria

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

Galerie Artline, The Hague, The Netherlands

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada

1979

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY

Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany

Amerika Haus, Hannover, Germany

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS

1978

Galerie Ninety-Nine, Bay Harbour Islands, FL

M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY

1977

Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY

Watson/de Nagy, Houston, TX

Knoedler Contemporary Art, New York, NY

1976

David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Daniel Templon, Paris, France

M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY

1975

Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Galerie Andre Emmerich, Zurich, Switzerland

1974

Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Canada

Galerie La Bertesca, Dusseldorf, Germany

Knoedler Contemporary Art, New York, NY

1973

Knoedler Contemporary Art, New York, NY

Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, NY

1972 Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, NY

David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, Canada

1971

Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, NY

Kasmin Ltd., London, UK

1970

Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, NY

1968

Kasmin Ltd., London, UK

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY

1967

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY

1965

Green Gallery, New York, NY

1964

Green Gallery, New York, NY

1963

Green Gallery, New York, NY

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH

American Federation of Arts, New York

Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL

Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Bennington College, Bennington, VT

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO

David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University,

Providence, RI

Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,

Washington, DC

Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN

Indianapolis Museum of Modern Art, Indianapolis, IN

Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington

University, St. Louis, MO

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice,

France

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna

Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria

Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA

Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA

Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art,

Providence, RI

Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO

Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

Wellington Management Company, Boston

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA