Former COC Gallery Director Larry Hurst gave a talk at the COC Art Gallery on March 1, which was in conjunction with his exhibition “Paintings and Collages” that runs through the end of March 2018.

The College of the Canyons Art Gallery will present the work of Los Angeles-based artist and former COC Gallery Director Larry Hurst in the exhibition “Paintings and Collages” opening Saturday, Feb. 10.

The one-person exhibition brings together works from three areas of Hurst’s aesthetic investigations: his precise and elegant geometric abstract paintings; his nuanced and poetic collage; and his intensively hand-crafted, often humorous sculptures (which Hurst attributes to his alter-ego, Guy Leadbetter).

“This is such beautiful work, and such a great opportunity for our students to see mature contemporary art,” said Pamela Bailey Lewis, COC Art Gallery Director. “That it is the work of someone who contributed so much to our COC community over a span of two decades only adds to the resonance of the show.”

Materially diverse and conceptually rigorous, Hurst’s aesthetic is at once painstaking and playful, exacting and improvisational, lush and subdued. His works reveal the influence of art historical precedents, such as John McLaughlin, Frederick Hammersley, and H.C. Westermann, and are distinguished by their intricate craftsmanship, formal sophistication, and sense of humor.

Hurst has been active in the Los Angeles art scene since the 1970’s and is a graduate of the Chouinard Art Institute. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in particular Southern California, and is in numerous private and public collections. Suzanne Muchnic, art critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote of Hurst’s work, “His craftsmanship is fine, but his sense of color and design is better. More important than these is his ability to create richly satisfying abstractions that are a delight to look at.”

Hurst became a vital member of the COC campus community in 1997, and was named Director of the Art Gallery 10 years later. Hurst retired in June 2017.

The exhibition “Larry Hurst: Paintings & Collages” will run through Thursday, March 29, 2018.

The College of the Canyons Art Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays. Those unable to visit the gallery during normal hours are welcome to contact the gallery to schedule a viewing appointment.

All gallery exhibitions and related events are free and open to the public.

Watch the full talk in the above video.