Richard Larter (1929 - 2014), artist, studied art in London and travelled to Algiers before migrating to Australia with his family in 1962. He was soon characterised as an Australian Pop artist for his flat, collage-like paintings, which incorporated brightly coloured painted heads of celebrities, sex symbols, dictators, politicians and porn stars, often represented by his late wife, the performance artist Pat Larter. Larter has also made a significant body of geometric, ethereal and glittery abstract paintings, elements of which have often filled the backgrounds of the figurative works. This painting, featuring an intricate hypodermic syringe technique originally inspired by Arabic calligraphy, contains many of the elements characteristic of Larter's figurative and abstract work.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
© Richard Larter/Copyright Agency, 2021
Richard Larter (age 36 in 1965)
Basil P. Bressler (48 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Christopher Chapman describes the art and life of Australian artist Richard Larter.
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
