Research Paper

Rebelling against predecessors

Larry Clark shot this photo book in 1970, a time when pop art was still widely influential in the United States. With this in mind, the response to Clark's Tulsa is put in better perspective. While the majority of American consumers and critics were entranced with the consumeristic focus of pop art, Clark decided to document a counter-culture that portrayed a grit that was unidentifiable in the pop art of the 60s and 70s.

Robert Frank

Robert Frank was an immensely influential photographer of the 1950s who traveled around the US and captured a less-flashy and perfect version of what an American looked like.

Clark's Tulsa both borrows from and builds upon Frank's Americans.

Critics of the time were against Frank’s snapshot style, calling it drunken and sloppy. However, this style undoubtedly has the power to impact viewers in a way that other styles can not. This style can be seen echoed in the work of Larry Clark’s Tulsa and would not be as impactful without it.

Although many parallels can be drawn between Frank's Americans and Clark's Tulsa, just as Clark was likely to have been inspired by Americans, Clark also seems to be building upon the Americans to provide a commentary on how Frank's portrayal of America didn't go deep enough into the type of lives that were being raised in America.

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Frank's photographic style

The Snapshot style in Frank's Americans is one that is undoubtedly recognizable in Clark's Tulsa. By using this snapshot style,

THESIS:
Larry Clark’s Tulsa both borrows from and provides commentary on the popular works of contemporary artists from 1945-1970. Clark uses these techniques to shock viewers by using a culturally-informed snapshot-style to lend an eye into the dark lives that could be living in your next door neighbor’s suburban home.

OUTLINE

INTRO:
Introduce how most artists have either gone w tradition of rebelled against it and how Clark does both in TULSA. This approach to subject matter allows for the viewer to see a style that is familiar but is presenting subject matter that had not been seen at all.


Also give an intro to who Larry Clark was and his upbringing.

  • Parents were studio photographers.

SIMILARITIES:
Identify the similarities to artists such as Robert Frank and Eugene Smith


ROBERT FRANK: (USE SOURCE 2)

  1. Frank's snapshot style.
  2. Frank's subject matter in the Americans can be compared to Clark's Tulsa. The two are showing how pop culture doesn't show the reality of things. Frank shows the more traditional and gritty version of what middle America is like.

EUGENE SMITH:
In an interview with Larry Clark, Clark discusses how Eugene Smith’s philosophy to photography has been one of his biggest inspirations as an artist. This all goes to support my point of the importance of a photographer to be culturally educated when photographing subjects. In addition, the viewer can see a similar snapshot style in Smiths work as can be seen in both Frank’s and Clark’s.

DIFFERENCES
Identify how Clark rebells against artists who came before him.

POP ART
the 60s-70s were a time when pop art was taking over the U.S. This style of art was interested in consumerism and used very bright, poppy colors. Clark's work undoubtedly shows a darker side of this time. While flashy, American pop culture was bring represented in the work of pop artists, the lives of those like Clark and his friends weren't being represented. Clark's goal with Tulsa was to bring light to the fact that these lives are real and they are being lived in your next door neighbor's house.

CONCLUSION:
Wrap paper up, explain how both Clark's borrowing from the past and his rebelling against artists of his time created a collection of art that was compelling, and held the dichotomy of being both familiar and novel.

Tulsa Oklahoma

Tulsa in the 1970s was a place that held moral standards very high. It was the epicenter of the status quo in America. Clark's book captures the reality that showed that the direct opposite of this type of society also existed in this town. Tulsa was a juxtaposition of the status quo in America in the 60s-70s.