Larry Poons: Ruffles Queequeg + The Throw Decade Paintings, 1971–1981

This richly illustrated catalogue, featuring essays by the preeminent art historian Michael Fried and critical contributions from Alex Bacon and Frank Stella, examines a transformative decade in Larry Poons’s artistic development when he boldly abandoned his celebrated dot-and-lozenge compositions to pursue a more radical painterly vision. Taking its title from a pivotal 1972 work inspired by a character in Melville’s Moby Dick, the volume traces how Poons’s innovative "throw" paintings of the 1970s—created by hurling paint at canvases in a process that married chance operations with artistic control—established new possibilities for Color Field painting. The catalogue contextualizes this crucial period within Poons’s broader trajectory from his early success in 1960s New York through his continued evolution in recent decades, revealing how his restless experimentation with technique and material has consistently advanced the possibilities of abstract painting.

Published by Yares Art, New York, 2018

Essays by Michael Fried, Frank Stella, and Alex Bacon

Designed by Tim Laun Natalie Wedeking

Softcover fully illustrated, 73 pages

_{© Larry Poons / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY}