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Jersey City landscape artist Valerie Larko

By Patti Verbanas

Valerie Larko?s ?Urban Edges? can be seen now through June 21 at the Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. hunterdonartmuseum.org

New Jersey landscape artist Valerie Larko is known for her oil paintings that depict the urban fringe. Painting en plein air (?in the open air?), Larko positions herself underneath overpasses, in salvage yards, and near power plants to capture her subjects. She is the Director of the Tomasulo Gallery at Union County College and a painting instructor at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in Summit. She grew up in Lake Parsippany and is a graduate of the duCret School of Art in Plainfield. She continued her education at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design in New York.

We visited Larko on the afternoon of her opening at the Hunterdon Art Museum to talk about her latest series.

What is the theme of this current show?
Since moving from New Jersey to New York in 2004, I have been exploring the urban waterfront and infrastructure close to my new home, mainly in the Bronx but also in Brooklyn and Queens. In a way it?s our Venice, surrounded by water with its own history and ? dare I say it ? even a bit of romance. There are stories here, and in some ways I am an explorer coming upon a new terrain and trying to understand its particular culture and history. Perhaps our factories, bridges, and highways are not as interesting as the pyramids of ancient Egypt, but they are ours. I always have been interested in the changes we bring to the land and what they say about us. The graffiti on the side of an abandoned building is as interesting to me as ancient hieroglyphs ? maybe more so because it is the world I am regularly engaged in.

What prompted you to make the switch from traditional landscapes to the more gritty subjects you depict now?
During the summer months when school was not in session, I would get together with friends from duCret, and we would find some scenic area to paint for the day. From this experience, I learned that enjoyed painting on location. When I moved to Jersey City in 1986 I looked around me, and thought, OK what am I going to paint here? Jersey City is surrounded by industrial parks and even the view from the local park had a vista full of factories and highways. I decided to paint what was around me and became fascinated with this overlooked area of New Jersey. My friends jokingly called this area around the Pulaski Skyway ?Larko Land? since I?ve spent so many years painting there.

How have your subjects changed over the years?
My focus has shifted since I first began painting industrial New Jersey. I started with traditional vistas and then moved into close-ups of the industrial parks and focused on the sculptural and mysterious qualities of the chemical tanks. As I continued to explore this subject, I wound up painting in an active salvage yard in Hackettstown for 5 years. So, I went from painting the factories to painting the discards of the factories, which is the ultimate outcome of our consumer-driven economy. Most recently I?ve been attracted to the abandoned and overlooked areas closer to my current home in New Rochelle, New York. I?ve spent a lot of time in the Bronx, which is full of relics from our not-so-distant past. Images like ?Rusting Gantries, Bronx? attracted me because of their sculptural and somewhat anthropomorphic forms. These hulking giants, now overgrown with weeds, were once a very important part of New York?s waterfront. The gantries were used to load barges with supplies and people to be brought over to North Brother Island, which also is abandoned.

What attracts you to subjects?
It could be the way the light hits a certain building or chemical tank. It could be the humor I see in a pink elevated subway that reminds me of a roller coaster every time I drive past it. Or it could be an abandoned relic, that while no longer in use, still has a fascinating story to tell.

What are your methods of painting?
I?m always on the prowl for new sites. When something catches my interest, I?ll walk around until I find the right angle. I then make some quick pen-and-ink studies in a small sketchbook. Once I find a scene I really like, I?ll do a color study to help me decide on the composition and what size canvas to stretch. When I have the large canvas stretched, I?ll head back to the site at the same time each day for many weeks, sometimes months, until the painting is close to completion. I put the finishing touches on in the studio. I have to make sure that the painting looks as good indoors as it does outdoors. Sometimes this means adjusting colors or values.

Because of the changing light, I work on one painting in the morning and a second one in the afternoon. In the winter when it?s too cold to stand outside, I?ll paint small studies from inside my car.

What are the advantages of painting en plein air versus referencing a photograph in your studio?
Painting on location allows me to get to know an area in a way I never would if I stayed in my studio and painted from a photograph. There is nothing better then being out on location painting ? especially if the weather is cooperating! I am much more focused when I?m outdoors. The light is changing, and I have to capture it quickly before everything is different.

There?s so much more information on site for me to choose from as well. When you take a photo, you?re stuck with that view. On site you can walk around and gather all kinds of interesting stuff both visually and mentally. I?m not beyond moving something or changing something if I think it will help me create a better painting. The experience of being on site for weeks or months also adds an extra dimension to final painting. Often I will pick up information about what I am painting from people I meet on location. This makes the whole experience much more interesting for me and hopefully, when the painting is complete, for the viewer as well.

What are your current projects?
I?m continuing to focus on the waterfront and its environs in the Bronx. My paintings will be featured this June as part of Bronx Week 2009 and will be on exhibit in the Bronx Borough President?s office through the beginning of September. I also have my eye on a certain abandoned power plant in Jersey City that is screaming, Paint me before it?s too late!

Where can readers find examples of your work in New Jersey?
I have four murals on permanent display in the north mezzanine at the Secaucus Transfer Station, which is the largest train station in the state. I designed two fragmented glass windows for a bus shelter in front of the train station in Summit. Both of these projects were commissioned as public art projects, which are very different from my regular painting. I also have artwork in the permanent collection at the Jersey City Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, and the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.

New Jersey Life Lifestyle Editor Patti Verbanas is the former Executive Editor of Art & Antiques magazine