APALAZZOGALLERY

03-24 August 2020

Larry Stanton lived and painted in Manhattan until he died of AIDS at the age of 37 in 1984.
His studio in the Greenwich Village developed into a gathering place for artists and writers, enticed by his charm, his looks, and his art.
His work provides a telling picture of faces from a segment of NYC life which shortly disappeared with the advent of AIDS, an epidemic that annihilated so many of these faces, including Larry's own.

Between his inner circle were David Hockney, who has been a lifelong friend and supporter of Larry as an artist, Henry Geldzahler, Christopher Isherwood and Arthur Lambert, his life partner and still today tireless promoter of his work, all of which he portrayed in his drawings.

"Larry Stanton was a portraitist. Skill in portraiture is an instinct, it cannot be taught ...The portraitist is an observer of people, his attitudes and feelings will be reflected in his observations and usually the interest in personality makes one study faces, other aspects of personality show in the body; posture, ways of moving, etc., but most is revealed in the face. People make their own faces and Larry knew this instinctively.”

- David Hockney -

PRESS RELEASE

WORKS

Brian

1985

Drawing on paper

46 x 61 cm

CODE stanton01
4.500 € + VAT if applicable

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Laureen

1977

Oil on canvas panel

61 x 50,5 cm

CODE stanton02
5.800 € + VAT if applicable

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Mark Buchaman

1982

Drawing on paper

45,5 x 61 cm

CODE stanton03
4.500 € + VAT if applicable

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Raymond Foye

1981

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton04
4.000 € + VAT if applicable

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Rob

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton05

SOLD
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Milton

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton06

SOLD
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Untitled

Drawing on paper

63,5 x 45,7 cm

CODE stanton07

SOLD
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Untitled

1981

Acrylic on canvas

76 x 63,5 cm

CODE stanton08
9.000 € + VAT if applicable

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Untitled

Drawing on paper

35 x 35 cm

CODE stanton09
3.800 € + VAT if applicable

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Patrick (Porter)

1981

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton10
3.500 € + VAT if applicable

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Bill

1981

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton11
3.800 € + VAT if applicable

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Untitled

1978 ca.

Drawing on paper

43 x 35 cm

CODE stanton12
3.000 € + VAT if applicable

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ABOUT LARRY STANTON

One day in the hospital Larry tried to think of something which would cause me to remember him when he was gone and my memory of him had dimmed. After reflecting for a moment, he said, "I know, think of me when it thunders." It sounded like a good idea but it hasn't worked out as we expected. It doesn't thunder every day.

- Arthur Lambert -

Larry, Fire Island Pines, circa 1980

Larry and cheetah, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1970

Arthur Lambert and Fabio Cherstich photographed by Carlotta Manaigo in NY, 2019

I came across the work of Larry Stanton by chance, while carrying out research online into an artist I love and whose work I have been collecting for years: Patrick Angus.
That was January 2018.
Larry Stanton didn’t know Patrick Angus: Larry died of AIDS in 1984 at the age of only 37; in that same year, Patrick moved to New York for good. Struck by the beauty of the few images I found, I continued in my research until I came across a contact for Arthur Lambert, the most important person I might have hoped to reach.
Arthur was a lover to Larry, as well as a mentor, an adoptive father, a brotherly friend and now the sole representative of his estate. I wrote to him straight away and he replied: “I’ll be expecting you.”
As soon as I could, I flew out to New York. Opening the door of a beautiful townhouse in the heart of Greenwich Village, I found a splendid eighty-year-old in jeans, striped t-shirt and sneakers.
Arthur lives in the midst of drawings and paintings by Larry, and has lots of stories to tell about a New York which is no longer, as well as about his ongoing friendship with David Hockney which dates back to 1968.
Over all these years, Arthur has jealously guarded Larry’s drawings and paintings, photos and the Super-8 footage shot on Fire Island, as well as all of his diaries and sketchbooks.
I have been back to visit him often and we have become friends. We talk a great deal; we browse through works and comment on them. Every time, I discover new details about their life together, about their discussions with Christopher Isherwood, their friendship with Ellsworth Kelly, their explorations of museums and of openings with David Hockney and Henry Geldzahler.
In January this year, along with Arthur I undertook a project for the archiving, rediscovery and publication of Stanton’s work. His production is virtually unknown, and I believe it is high time for it to be brought back into the spotlight.
When Chiara Rusconi from the Apalazzo Gallery suggested we might devise together a show on Larry for their Viewing Room, I accepted the idea with enthusiasm, and so did Arthur Lambert. The works presented are largely drawings on paper, but we also decided to display three rare paintings: portraits of friends and relatives produced around the turn of the 1980s. They mark the start of an intense artistic investigation, one which was in constant evolution before being sadly struck down by disease.
This exhibition, opening 36 years after his untimely disappearance, is the first solo show of Larry’s work to be staged in Europe, and in all truth, his second exhibition ever. Luckily enough, it’s never too late.

- Fabio Cherstich -