Artist Larry Greenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, and became intrigued by art while attending Manhattan’s City College for Mathematics. He became interested in pursuing art after visiting the Museum of Modern Art, where he was exposed to the works of Picasso, and other 20th century masters. Once he decided art was his calling, he enrolled in Brooklyn College and was mentored by renowned American abstract artist Harry Holtzman, a contemporary and friend of Piet Mondrian, whom Greenberg credits for teaching him to see, learn, and grow in the profession.
Greenberg is known for his figurative, expressionist oil paintings. He creates semi-abstract compositions that depict ghost-like figures, devoid of expression. These figures represent tortured souls, rendered in cave-like settings or infinite voids. He employs both muted and dramatic color ranges, used to purposefully create a sense of tension and apathy, and leave an emotional impact on the viewer. His subjects are generally alone in a world where their suffering is no fault of their own, and their existence is ignored. He has a particular interest in depicting mood in his settings, to emphasize his subject’s despair. In these renderings, he channels the tone of the Old Masters, and creates contemporary images of the transcendent human feeling of isolation and struggle.
LARRY GREENBERG ON
6-2-22, 2022
I consider each of my paintings to be a total process from the initial images in my mind to the physical preparation of the canvas to the signing of the completed artwork. As I paint, guided by the forces behind my figurative expressionistic paintings, classical music helps me focus on “listening” to my painting. With each brush stroke, the painting ‘speaks’ to me and directs my next move, and while the completed painting follows my original concept and structure, it includes important changes as ‘dictated’ by it during its creation.
ORIGINAL LARRY GREENBERG ARTWORKS ON
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