Growing 1981 Larry Rivers 2021

Rivers anticipated the postmodern mashup — mixing high and low, abstraction and representation, serious and silly. Growing feels like a 1981 punk-jazz poem about how art, like a vine, just keeps moving.

In Growing (1981), look closely at the line work. The charcoal is thick and "dirty." Rivers often wiped away lines before they were finished, creating a ghost of an alternative drawing underneath the final piece. This technique—known as pentimento —is crucial to the keyword "growing." growing 1981 larry rivers

Often called the "godfather of Pop Art" (though he preferred "figurative realist"), Larry Rivers was known for his loose, gestural style and irreverent subject matter. By 1981, Rivers had long since moved past his early Abstract Expressionist influences, fully embracing a multimedia, collage-like approach that blended painting, sculpture, and everyday objects. Rivers anticipated the postmodern mashup — mixing high

Rivers once said in an interview, "The greatest thing about a drawing is the evidence of the artist changing his mind." Growing is that philosophy in action. The stray marks are not mistakes; they are the history of the eye moving. The charcoal is thick and "dirty

. The project is most notable for its explicit documentation of his teenage daughters' physical development through puberty, a work that has faced intense criticism and accusations of exploitation. The Video Series