Larry Clark (photographer)
Larry Clark is an American photographer and filmmaker born in 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known for his provocative and unflinching portrayals of teenage life. He studied photography at the Layton School of Art and later served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War before returning to Oklahoma, where he began capturing candid images of his friends engaged in drug use, violence, and sexuality. His groundbreaking 1971 book, *Tulsa*, shocked audiences by revealing the stark realities of youth culture in the American heartland, portraying activities often associated with urban settings.
Clark's work is characterized by its raw, grainy aesthetic and often challenges societal norms around youth behavior, which has led to both acclaim and criticism, with some viewing his images as exploitative. Beyond photography, Clark ventured into filmmaking, directing the controversial 1995 film *Kids*, which explores the lives of teenagers engaging in risky behaviors and the consequences they face. His subsequent films, including *Bully* and *Marfa Girl*, continue to delve into similar themes, focusing on the experiences of young people. Clark's influence is evident in the work of later photographers and filmmakers who explore intimate and confessional narratives, solidifying his legacy as a pivotal figure in contemporary art and cinema.
Larry Clark (photographer)
Photographer, filmmaker
- Born: January 19, 1943
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Education: Layton School of Art
Significance: Larry Clark opened the eyes of society to the gritty reality of teen life. He photographed and filmed explicit drug use, violence, and sexuality among young people. The artist said that he was determined to show the unvarnished truth and the consequences of such actions. He later expanded his artistic vision to writing and directing films.
Background
Larry Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1943. His mother, Frances Clark, was a baby portrait photographer and traveled to customers’ homes. Clark, who felt his father did not love him, helped his mother in her work. He attended Central High School in Tulsa. From 1961 to 1963, he studied photography at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served two years in the US Army during the Vietnam War.
Upon his return to Oklahoma, he shot many photos of his young friends and others in Tulsa. Many of the images depict drug use, sexuality, and nudity. Clark continued to add to his collection of images over the course of nearly a decade. He moved to New York in 1966 and worked as a freelance photographer. He showed his photographs in galleries from time to time.
In 1971, he published a collection of photos from his time in his hometown. Tulsa chronicles the life of Clark and his friends in 1960s and early 1970s Oklahoma. The images depict teenagers shooting meth and engaging in violent and sexually charged activities. The collection immediately catapulted him into the public eye. The book challenged the notion that the hedonistic, self-destructive actions often seen in urban areas were missing in the heartland. Many viewers were shocked by the frank portrayals of drug use and sexual behavior.
Life’s Work
Clark’s Tulsa photos are stark and unapologetic. The black-and-white, grainy images appear to be candid shots of people familiar to the photographer. Clark began injecting amphetamine daily when he was sixteen and had no illusions about its effects. He knew society would be shocked that he had drawn back the curtain and shown the truth of what teens in supposedly tranquil suburban communities were doing. Clark said even he was shocked by the photographs of the life he was leading. When he first viewed the prints, he thought he should either destroy all the evidence or find a publisher.
Clark has lambasted critics who said some of his images are exploitative. He cited one photo from Tulsa, of a pregnant teen injecting drugs, as a perennial target. Clark countered that he was interested in the consequences of actions that he captures in his images and had followed the photo of the pregnant girl with an image of a baby’s funeral.
Hobbled by a heroin addiction, Clark took ten years to complete his next photo book. The 1983 collection Teenage Lust treads the same territory of Clark’s teen life, as it turns an eye on young hustlers in Times Square, New York City. Clark published a number of other photo collections, notably The Perfect Childhood in 1993.
Clark challenged his fans and critics by venturing into new territory. He directed the 1995 film Kids, which follows a crowd of skateboard-loving teens who engage in risky sexual behavior, fight, and use drugs. The central character is an HIV-positive teen who targets virgins in a futile attempt to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. He infects at least one novice sexual partner, Jennie, who embarks on a mission to alert him to his HIV-positive status before he infects anyone else. Jennie passes out at a party after taking a drug and finds herself at the mercy of another predator. Adults and role models are conspicuously absent throughout the film. Many of the actors and extras were local skaters Clark had met in the city. He gained the trust of the teens and young adults by learning to skateboard, despite the many injuries he sustained in the process.
Kids debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the 1995 Palme d’Or. Another film, Bully, follows teens in Florida through a number of drug- and sex-fueled experiences. Clark continued to work in film and occasionally television.
Although Kids was Clark’s first commercial film venture, he also shot amateur film on 16mm in 1968 in Tulsa. The footage was found in 2010 and screened in 2014 alongside images from Tulsa and Teenage Lust. The film, also called Tulsa, foreshadows Clark’s later movies in graphically depicting sex.
A retrospective of Clark’s work was exhibited in 2005 at the International Center of Photography. Another exhibition, Los Angeles 2003–2006, was held in London in 2008. It included images of teens in Compton, California. Many of these teens also appear in a little-noticed 2005 Clark film, Wassup Rockers.
Clark also wrote and directed Marfa Girl, a 2012 film about a teen in Marfa, Texas, and his relationships with his girlfriend and others, and its 2018 sequel, Marfa Girl 2. The latter focuses on a young mother in that Texas town who's coping with the aftereffects of sexual assault. The Smell of Us, his 2014 film, follows young skateboarders in Paris
Impact
Clark’s work served to influence future photographers—such as Antoine D’Agata, Corinne Day, and Nan Goldin—who embarked upon similarly confessional photographic journeys. His style in Tulsa hovers somewhere in the gray area between photojournalism and exploitation. His later work hews closer to fashion photography, which also has been influenced by Clark’s images.
Personal Life
Clark is the father of two children—one daughter and one son.
Bibliography
Amsden, David. "The Cheerful Transgressive." New York. New York Media LLC, 4 Apr. 2005. Web. 31 May 2016.
Clark, Larry. Tulsa. New York: Grove Press, 1971. Print.
Hostetler, Lisa. "Biography." International Center of Photography. International Center of Photography. Web. 31 May 2016.
"Larry Clark." Luhring Augustine. Luhring Augustine. Web. 31 May 2016.
"Larry Clark (I)." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0164187/. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
O’Hagan, Sean. "Larry Clark’s Photographs: ‘Once the Needle Goes In, It Never Comes Out." Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 5 June 2014. Web. 31 May 2016.
Vlad, Florian Andrei. "No Escape from New York: Youth Subcultural Hellscapes in Larry Clark's Kids and Todd Phillips' Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies." The Journal of Urban Anthropology, vol. 11, no. 22, 2023, pp. 38-47, www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1249004. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.