Lori Larusso engages with still life as a contemporary mode of ecological observation. Her paintings and site-responsive installations depict common objects and detritus, foodstuffs and animals, examining their political, economic, environmental, cultural, and emotional entanglements.
Working in a flat, graphic style, Larusso mixes pigments to evoke both recognition and surprise. She constructs her images in layers by hand, using masking techniques to develop detail and sharpness. Her installations often extend beyond the edges of walls and onto the floor. In contrast to accelerated image culture and AI, painting demands and rewards a quality of looking that the pace of contemporary life makes harder to find.
Larusso’s research is grounded in walking, collecting, and organizing images, resulting in an examination of how materials circulate through urban and rural landscapes. Discarded remnants, crumbs, packaging, and debris become carriers of place-based meaning, and evidence of systems of care and neglect embedded in daily life. Humor arises from the juxtaposition of unlikely objects and animals, functioning as both invitation and critique, allowing delight and discomfort to coexist.
Larusso’s work has been exhibited widely at national and international venues, most recently at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (Little Rock, AR), KMAC Contemporary Art Museum (Louisville, KY), Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND), South Dakota Art Museum (Brookings, SD), Schneider Museum of Art (Ashland, OR), and University of Kentucky Art Museum (Lexington, KY), and La Collina Sale Sempre International Art Festival, Castagnole delle Lanze, Italy (summer 2026). Her research has been supported through numerous fellowships and residencies, including the Kentucky Arts Council, South Arts, Great Meadows Foundation, Kentucky Foundation for Women, MacDowell, Sam & Adele Golden Foundation, McColl Center, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and ARTEFORA. Her work can be viewed at Galleri Urbane in Dallas, TX, Garvey/Simon in New York, NY, Rubine Red Gallery in Palm Springs, CA, and in the permanent collections of Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, KMAC Museum, and 21c Museum Hotels, Fidelity Investments (Boston, MA), Sara and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection (Cincinnati, Ohio), Shapin Nicholas Art Project (Louisville, KY), as well as many other private collections throughout the United States and abroad. Lori Larusso earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). She lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky.
