About Bryan Larsen ~
"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.
"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.
"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.
"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.
"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.
"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."
August 18th, 2004 at 7:15 pm
Hello Mr. Larsen,
Your current project has a curious beauty to it-one that leaves me however torn. I am curious-why does the Titan have his back turned to the earth?
August 19th, 2004 at 8:45 pm
Jason,
As I mentioned in the first post, this composition is directly inspired by the novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand. In the novel, the Titan, Atlas, is used as a metaphor for the men of ability who struggle to make the lifestyles of the very people who despise them (those of no ability) possible. The men of ability go on strike, refusing to work for their own destruction.
The question is asked, “If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders-what would you tell him to do?”
The answer, “To shrug.” (If you want the quote in context, you will have to read the book.)
In this painting, the Titan is refusing to work for his own destruction. That is why he has set down his burden and turned his back on the world.