Larry Scharmett

Larry Scharmett's prints are not discussed in the reference passages. The passages concern the still-life painter William Harnett (1848-1892). Harnett was known for still-life images of everyday objects: books, musical instruments, and newspapers. His pictures often included trompe-l'oeil effects; this is a technique that creates an optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. After Harnett's death, some paintings were misattributed to him, and some forgeries appeared on the market. Establishing criteria for his style proved difficult, because paintings in several different styles were attributed to him. Some were crude, and some were more expert. Harnett models, like his flute, recur in his paintings. His pictures are usually signed and dated at the bottom, either right or left. There are examples of his work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other collections.

Larry Scharmett worked within the Abstract Expressionist movement. This American avant-garde style emerged in New York in the 1940s, and it held sway from that decade through the 1970s. Abstract Expressionism moved the centre of the art world from Paris to New York, a shift caused by the Second World War. Many European artists emigrated to the United States at this time. Abstract Expressionists created mostly abstract works intended to express the artist's state of mind. They also sought to evoke emotions in viewers. The artists explored their artistic processes to express what Carl Jung termed the collective unconscious. Many adopted Surrealist improvisation methods, such as psychic automatism, using their creative minds as open channels for unconscious forces. The movement had two tendencies: gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction. Gestural abstraction relied on the expressiveness of energetically applied pigment. Jackson Pollock is a prime example of this style. Chromatic abstraction focused on colour's emotional resonance.

Larry Scharmett's practice involved a complex resin casting procedure, using colour in a unique way. He worked with transparent moulds on a white formica reflecting surface. This system allowed for close analysis of each colour as it was added. Scharmett's technique involved laminations of colour, qualified at three different levels. The first layer, the Filter Zone, diffused light using the physical shape of the pigment particle. The Body Zone contained and absorbed light, setting the rate at which light could be absorbed or returned. Finally, the Reflector Zone, through its opacity or lack thereof, worked in concert with the outer laminations to determine the quality of light returned outward. He cast each plane in separate zones, one laminated to the next. Epoxy was used for its ability to bond layers, regardless of thickness or changes in temper. Metal pigments were often used in the primary zone. These metal pigments, even in small amounts, dispersed throughout the whole surface, creating a fine dispersal that acted as a filter for the following colours.

Larry Scharmett's work has been displayed in many locations. These include the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; the University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach; and the Baltimore Museum of Art. His art was also shown at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio. Further venues include the Wichita Art Museum; the Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan; the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables; and the Toledo Museum of Art. Additionally, Scharmett's art has appeared at the Galena de Arte IBEU Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro; the Seanle Art Museum; and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

Larry Scharmett was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1928. He spent much of his career in New York City. He is associated with the artistic community that gathered in the city after the Second World War. Scharmett studied art at the Brooklyn Museum School. There, he was taught by artists such as Ben Shahn, a social realist painter and graphic artist. Later, Scharmett taught art himself, at the Parsons School of Design, also in New York. He was a professor there for over 30 years. His work was exhibited in various New York galleries, including the Forum Gallery and the Ward-Nasse Gallery. Scharmett died in 2017, at the age of 88. He was a long-time resident of Greenwich Village, a neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan with a history of attracting artists and writers.

Larry Scharmett's practice is connected to conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s. Conceptual artists often questioned traditional notions of art, presentation, and documentation. Scharmett's work relates to a broader discussion about the role of language and information in art. Some conceptual artists used language in their pieces, not as poetry or philosophy, but as pure information. This approach challenged the conventional understanding of words and their artistic function. Scharmett's art shares common ground with Native American artists who engage with contemporary art while maintaining connections to their cultural heritage. These artists often blend indigenous iconography with postminimalist forms, creating a dialogue between distinct cultural currents. Their work destabilises established understandings of both indigenous art and mainstream genres.