MONTICELLO — MontiArts will highlight the work of one its resident artists, painter and musician Brian Larson, starting this month and running through September.
An opening reception for Larson’s new show, “Color & Flow,” will be held this coming Friday, July 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the studio space at MontiArts’ downtown headquarters, located at 213 W. Broadway.
“Color & Flow” is a multimedia exhibit showcasing the Monticello artist’s paintings, music and digital/video work.
“Be sure to mark your calendar now for this show, which promises to be very cool and unlike anything we’ve held before,” MontiArts Director Sue Seeger said. “(Larson) will have original pieces for sale, some small affordable art, and even T-shirts and other items with his art printed on them.”
Locals may already be familiar with some of Larson’s work, as he helped turn a vacant building downtown into a work of art back in 2023, creating a mural on a former bar on East Broadway Street.
Larson led that public art project, drawing together members of a student art club and local creatives to beautify the building’s brick facade.
Now, Larson’s artistic skills have been tapped once again, as he’s going to be creating a mural on the back of MontiArts this summer with help from student artists and former interns from the Monticello High School Art Club.
Larson is also working on rolling out an app, where listeners can have full streaming access to his catalog of music, along with some guided meditations that are heavily music-focused.
The Monticello man started out in a practical art career, working as a web designer, and said he has applied a lot of those skills to his current work.
Larson’s work is also influenced by a condition he has known as synesthesia, in which you experience one of your senses through another.
For those with synesthesia, the brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing them to experience more than one sense simultaneously. For instance, someone with synesthesia may see shapes when they listen to music, or they hear a word and instantly see a color.
“It’s not super common, but can apply to any melding of the senses,” Larson said. “In my case, letters and numbers all have colors, shapes, textures and personalities. It’s kind of a mind’s eye type thing. I just automatically see things that way without trying at all. Like, ‘3’ is green, and has kind of a mischievous personality.”
“And music is like that for me too; kind of a moving painting, that I hear and see all at once, and it has texture and is three-dimensional. It all interconnects and interrelates.”
Having synesthesia can be overwhelming, and that’s where meditation comes in for Larson.
“It can be sensory overload at times,” he said. “That is probably the main reason I got into meditation, for a refuge.”
Larson also finds a refuge and inspiration in the natural world.
“I’ve been meditating sitting at the bases of trees a lot lately, and it just pulls everything out. It just really heals me. It’s so healing being in nature. It pulls all the tension out and relieves me greatly.”
Indeed, trees find their way into much his work.
“I get a lot of inspiration from walking out in nature,” he said. “I love walking at West Bridge Park and Montissippi Park. I take pictures. I might see a cool tree and take a picture of it, but only use it as a guide.”
“I see and feel a lot of flow in images, and sometimes the flow seems a bit chaotic at first. Painting is teaching me how to use both sides of my brain to tame that flow somewhat into a cohesive composition. I’m always trying to capture the energy I see in nature.”
This article includes excerpts from an interview Seeger conducted with Larson recently.
If you go
What: Opening reception for Brian Larson’s solo show “Color & Flow”
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 12
Where: MontiArts, 213 W. Broadway
More info: www.montiarts.com
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