Richard Larter

KLIMT AUSTRALIS

A portrait of Richard Larter by Kim Nelson

The following is an explanation of the painting artist Kim Nelson completed of Richard Larter earlier this year.

“I’ve known Richard for a while now so when it came to painting him I wanted the portrait to be the sum of his many parts. The title refers the C19th European painter Gustav Klimt, an artist whom I know Richard was inspired by.

In some ways Richard is a late 20th century Klimt. Both artists are obsessed with design and unorthodox methods of painting and yes, the use of pornographic imagery. So I wanted the portrait to not only be a visual representation but to include some of Richard’s methods of painting and inspirations.

So for starters it had to be mixed media. Richard is very fond of digitally printing large photos onto canvas and then working over the top of them. So in the bottom section of my piece I created an artwork in Photoshop and had it digitally printed on to the canvas

Besides being a physical portrait, I employed all sorts of materials Richard likes to use. I even used a syringe to apply contour outlines of paint in areas, as he sometimes does.

The three portaits of Richard were painted in oil. He’s very animated and ‘in your face’ when he’s talking (his arms and hands are constantly waving around) so I wanted to give this impression. All the rest of the designs and patterns were a mixture of acrylic paint, body paint, glitter paint, metallic contour paint (as in glass painting), gold leaf - oh, and of course an applied piece of paper in the middle with a monotone oil sketch of the arm section (just for effect).

The watch on Richard’s arm is at 8pm as Richard will be turning 80 this year. The designs in some sections of the painting were appropriated from Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece ‘The Kiss’. ”

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