Lars The Artist

[Alayna Rother]

LarsTunebo was born in 1962 in Lysekil, Sweden and now lives and works in Gothenburg. He is a self-taught artist working with techniques and materials including bronze, glass, painting and photography/mixed media.

He is mostly known for his photo-montages of animals in unusual situations including elephants on tightropes in New York City and balancing on their heads in London. Images are worked with different effects and filters in multiple layers and then hand-finished with clear transparent colours and individual effects.

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Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?

Gesing: I am a fine art nature photographer, and though I have been running around with a camera for as long as I can remember, I have been pursuing photography more diligently and as an art form for about 10 years (since moving to the U.S. from Germany), and as a career running my own business for about six years now.

It starts with a clear overall mission of what I want each artwork I create to achieve. In my case, that's capturing meditative moments in nature, that feeling of calmness that has become so rare these days in most places except nature. That mission dictates the kinds of scenes I am drawn to photograph in the first place. That does mean that a pretty view alone doesn't necessarily compel me to create a photograph.

Another advantage of the TruLife acrylic face mount process is that the finished piece does not need to be framed, which is a great match for many more contemporary spaces or those who'd rather invest their money in a bigger piece of art than worrying about a frame. For those who want a frame, I source hand-made Italian olive wood frames that have a beautiful, natural texture that is a wonderful match for my subject matter.

A crucial ingredient to this very mindful approach to creating photographic art is that I use my background as a writer to write little vignettes for each artwork I create. Those are usually reflections on calmness and what led me to create this specific piece in the first place. As such, I consider them crucial context for my artwork that I publish alongside the finished piece. I like telling people when they ask what I do that I am a photographic artist with a writer's heart.

This dedication to detail and to an overall mission from capture all the way through presentation is the Promise of Excellence that is one of the guiding principles in my creative and art business endeavor. You can watch this video to see in action what I am talking about.

Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.

I like to say that I am on a mission to spread calmness in an increasingly loud world. It all stems from my own discomfort as a lifelong introvert in crowded, loud places. Nature is an escape for me where I find meditative moments of mental clarity to dream and think what one of my favorite writers, Mary Oliver, calls "long-limbed thoughts."

What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?

Being a lifelong introvert means that from an early age, I have struggled to make my voice heard in a world that all too often rewards the loudest among us. When I moved from Germany to the U.S. for grad school, I was introduced to and quickly immersed myself in the vast landscapes of the American West, where I think, above all, I finally learned and felt for the first time that not knowing what to say was not a character flaw but a sign of appreciation.

That planted the seed for my creative mission to spread calmness in our increasingly loud world. These days, as life all around us seems to get busier and more hectic by the minute, that mission of finding meditative moments grounded in nature is taking on even more meaning for even more people who look for ways to combat feelings of haste in their own lives.

If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?

My website at www.larsgesingfineart.com is a great place to start. And then, of course, my West Seattle gallery (just check my website for the most up-to-date hours before visiting). You can also find me and my work at the Seattle Home Show in February!

What is next for you? Anything you're working on right now that you're really excited about?

As we speak, I am gearing up for another 10-day trip to Kauai, the place where I created my "THE LIGHT OF ALOHA" collection. On Kauai, I plan to work on expanding on that body of work with a Volume II. While most of my work these days is created in and features the magnificent natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, Kauai is unlike any place I have ever photographed. The confluence of elements bathed in the spirit of Aloha and distinctly beautiful light makes for ample ways to create photographic artwork that invites meditative moments.

Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)

Black. But in true Seattle fashion, I do celebrate my coffee. Before I do anything else in the morning, I am obsessed with grinding my own beans and using my Chemex to make a pour-over cup. It's not the fastest process, as pretty much every visitor to my house has pointed out by now, but I like taking my time to make something good in deliberate fashion. You may be sensing a theme here by now, and you wouldn't be wrong.

About 'Artist of the Week': This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at he...@seattlerefined.com. And if you're wondering just what constitutes art, that's the beauty of it; it's up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.

I have. That is where I am getting confused. I am finding information on a Norwegian artist who appeared to be in his career prime during the 60's and 70's. Another artist, same types of works, American born 1964. I cannot deliniate between the 2. And the piece of work that I have varies from some of the works that I can see on internet. Is there a reputable art identification website that would be of help?

I can only find one source (a British auction-house listing) which refers to "Lars Hawkes (American born 1964)." Is this the one you mean? I think the birthdate may simply be a mistake on their part. If you enlarge the photo of their item then you'll find a signature (at the lower left) which looks very similar to the Lars Hawkes signature dated 1971.

Probably those 2 citings reference the same guy...but not the Hawkes who painted this. I think others may have taken "internet info" and erroneously paired them. It's an interesting mystery. Why is your painting the only item that seems to be using acrylic on canvas?

As for the "why do you think it is this or that," why not use the Socratic method? It works. Because it's very useful in identifying / verifying works of art, it's a common exercise in the course-work of many, if not most, art programs.

You know, "Lars Hawkes" sounds an unusual name, to my ear, and yet I'm finding the name all over the place, including a fellow who lives in Campbell River, B.C. (but who is not, evidently, an artist). Maybe there's more than one artist with the name.

Now, it's true that the auction-house listing of the above serigraph ascribes it to "Lars Hawkes (American born 1964)." However, this is an error. We can be confident that it is an error because it's possible to zoom in on the signature. It's undated, but it's clearly in the same hand as the signature on that other piece you've found online: "Lars Hawkes 1971."

If he is OP's Lars, he's certainly taken a new direction, and not just in his medium. OP's Lars would seem a bit old for that. (Although with the cost of living in California being what is is, a lot of people are going to be working into their 80s.)

Sure, I wasn't disagreeing with you at all Maxine. I just re-read my post and thought it would be clearer with the photo (I didn't want to link to an auction site). Also, I wanted to add those copyright entries in case the OP hadn't come across them.

I grew up in an area where there wasn't a whole lot of nature, but my father used to bring me to the Museum of Natural History in New York. That sort of infected my life ever since, I've always had an interest in dinosaurs and skeletons and plants and rocks and things like that.

I went to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. When I left school, we would send out flyers and postcards to art directors, and you had to find their names somehow as there was no internet to look them up on. Larry Smith, who was the art director for Dungeons and Dragons, was the one art director who actually got back to me and I still have the postcard he wrote me.

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