Zach Larkin
Visual ArtistArtist Bio
Zach Larkin (b.2003) is an artist based in Austin, Texas. He is a current undergraduate B.F.A candidate at The University of Texas at Austin in Studio Arts. His media often branches through illustration, publication, and performance. He has exhibited work at Flatbed Press, the UT Visual Arts Center (VAC), UT Dell Medical school, ICOSA Collective, and currently serves as the UT RISO fellowship Manager.
Bittersweet Queer Mindscapes
As a queer artist and abuse survivor, raised in a low-income household in San Antonio, I create work that speaks to queer bittersweetness. Utilizing my vantage point I document and dismantle the importance of the nuclear suburbia, gender expectations, and heteronormativity imbued into my upbringing- while building confrontation and humility. Oftentimes, I source my imagery from fieldwork visits to neighborhoods I’ve lived in within Austin and San Antonio. Within my work, I explore a multidisciplinary approach to what I identify to be queer mindscapes. My works span the mediums of drawing, printmaking, and video performance to convey stream-of-consciousness tangential thoughts. The narratives within my work are frequently autobiographical- resembling a vulnerable but unreliable web of memory. I find these memories traversing the intersections of queer identity, mental health disparities, and the disillusionment of the family dynamic.
I have identified three influences within my recent work: Risography works building from late 20th century camp, drawings and lithographs exploring domestic discrepancies, and performative works that embrace the connection between queer referentiality and the uncanny. I utilize the strength of queer allusions within my works as a manner of connection to another interest of mine- the horror anthology convention.
Process, I have discovered, has a pillar of importance in the work. I am intrigued by the performative nature of print- the way print can signify intimacy in the same breath of violence. I have fallen in love with the heaviness and labor of lithography and drawing. However, I engage with my video works differently, as a time to play and explore in a more outwardly somatic way. I engage in processes and techniques of making that often live at opposing ends of spectrums- for example: the brevity of Risograph printing in comparison to the labor of lithography. These varied ways of working produce works that are varied in scale, some imposing and body sized, while others are mere copy paper posters. The visual language I employ in my works manifests through rich, contrasted, and velvety colors. The physicality of the works can be almost assaulting in their contrast, yet engage in spatial confusion akin to bleeding water and warped visions. In all of the works, I pull from a horrific and unsettling visual vocabulary to investigate illnesses imposed onto queer people. Ultimately, I dedicate my practice to intersectionality.