Editing Larry Clark

{{Short description|American filmmaker}}
{{other people}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Larry Clark
| image =Larry Clark Deauville 2013.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = Larry Clark in 2013 at the [[Deauville American Film Festival]]
| birth_name = Lawrence Donald Clark
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|1|19}}
| birth_place = [[Tulsa]], [[Oklahoma]], U.S.
| children = 3<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://the-talks.com/interview/larry-clark/|title = Larry Clark| date=March 28, 2012 }}</ref>
| years_active = 1962–present
}}
'''Lawrence Donald Clark''' (born January 19, 1943) is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for his controversial teen film ''[[Kids (film)|Kids]]'' (1995) and his photography book ''[[Tulsa (book)|Tulsa]]'' (1971). His work focuses primarily on youth who casually engage in illegal drug use, underage sex, and violence, and who are part of a specific [[subculture]], such as [[surfing]], [[Punk subculture|punk rock]], or [[skateboarding]].

==Early life==
Clark was born in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]]. He learned photography at an early age. His mother was an itinerant baby photographer, and he was enlisted in the family business from the age of 14.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/larry-clark|title=Larry Clark at International Center of Photography|publisher=www.icp.org|access-date=2016-12-31}}</ref> His father was a traveling sales manager for the Reader Service Bureau, selling books and magazines door-to-door, and was rarely home.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=WTF Podcast #749, Larry Clark|url=http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-749-larry-clark|website=WTF Podcast|date=October 10, 2016 |publisher=Marc Maron|access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> In 1959, Clark began injecting [[amphetamine]]s with his friends.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt4CbHs7zTw | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429095845/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt4CbHs7zTw&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2020-04-29 | url-status=dead|title=Broadcast Yourself |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref>

Clark attended the [[Layton School of Art]] in [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], where he studied under [[Walter Sheffer]] and [[Gerhard Bakker]].

==Career==
In 1964, he moved to New York City to freelance, but was [[Conscription|drafted]] within two months into the [[United States Army]]. From 1964 to 1965, he served in the [[Vietnam War]] in a unit that supplied ammunition to units fighting in the north. His experiences there led him to publish the 1971 book ''[[Tulsa (book)|Tulsa]]'', a photo documentary illustrating his young friends' drug use in black and white.

Routinely carrying a camera, from 1963 to 1971 Clark produced pictures of his drug-shooting coterie that have been described by critics as "exposing the reality of American suburban life at the fringe and ... shattering long-held mythical conventions that drugs and violence were an experience solely indicative of the urban landscape."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pavementmagazine.com/larryclark.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20020803205109/http://www.pavementmagazine.com/larryclark.html|url-status=dead|title=PAVEMENT MAGAZINE - Larry Clark|date=August 3, 2002|archive-date=August 3, 2002|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref>

His follow-up was ''Teenage Lust'' (1983), an "autobiography" of his teen past through the images of others. It included his family photos, more teenage drug use, graphic pictures of teenage sexual activity, and young male [[Male prostitute|hustlers]] in [[Times Square]], New York City. Clark constructed a photographic essay titled "The Perfect Childhood" that examined the effect of media in youth culture. His photographs are part of public collections at several art museums including the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], [[Museum of Photographic Arts]], and the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].

In 1993, Clark directed [[Chris Isaak]]'s music video "[[Solitary Man (song)|Solitary Man]]". This experience developed into an interest in film direction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ioncinema.com/news/id/4857 |title=Larry Clark Switches Wild Child for 'Savage Innocent' |publisher=Ioncinema.com |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref> After publishing other photographic collections, Clark met [[Harmony Korine]] in New York City and asked Korine to write the screenplay for his first feature film ''Kids'', which was released to controversy and mixed critical reception in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.schaden.com/book/ClaLarKid01317.html |title=Larry Clark – Kids. A Film by Larry Clark |publisher=Schaden.com |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref> Clark continued directing, filming a handful of additional independent feature films in the several years after this.

In 2001, Clark shot three features — ''[[Bully (2001 film)|Bully]]'', ''[[Ken Park]]'' and ''[[Teenage Caveman (2002 film)|Teenage Caveman]]'' — over a span of nine months. As of 2017, they are his last films to feature professional actors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://harmony-korine.com/text/int/lc/?p=53|title=Harmony-Korine.com - Interviews/Articles: Larry Clark|website=harmony-korine.com|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref>

In 2002, Clark spent several hours in a police cell after punching and trying to strangle Hamish McAlpine, the head of Metro Tartan, the UK distributor for ''Ken Park''. According to McAlpine, who was left with a broken nose, the incident arose from an argument about Israel and the Middle East, and he claims that he did not provoke Clark.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/nov/17/features.review|title=Hamish McAlpine: controversial film boss|first=Liz|last=Hoggard|date=November 17, 2002|website=the Guardian|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref>

In a 2016 interview, Clark discussed his lifelong struggle with drug abuse, although stating he maintained total sobriety while filmmaking. He confessed that the only exception made to his practice of abstinence while filming was ''Marfa Girl''. Clark explained that while filming that movie he used opiates for pain due to double knee replacement surgery.<ref name="auto"/>

==Films==
===''Kids''===
{{main|Kids (film)}}
In ''Kids'' (1995), his most widely known film, boys portrayed as being as young as 12 are shown to be casually drinking alcohol and using other drugs. The film received an [[Motion Picture Association of America|NC-17]] rating,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.moviemaker.com/magazine/issues/43/bully.html|newspaper=Moviemaker|issue=43|author=Travis Crawford|title=Interview to Larry Clark on Bully }}</ref> and was later released without a rating when Disney bought Miramax.

===Other work===
''[[Ken Park]]'' is a more sexually and violently graphic film than ''Kids'', including a scene of [[auto-erotic asphyxiation]] and [[ejaculation]] by an emotionally rattled high-school boy (portrayed by [[James Ransone]], then in his early 20s). 

In Australia, ''Ken Park'' was banned for its graphic sexual content and a protest screening held in response was immediately shut down by the police. Australian film critic [[Margaret Pomeranz]], co-host of ''[[At the Movies (Australian TV series)|At the Movies]]'', was almost arrested for screening the film at a hall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/04/1057179133410.html |title=Ken Park ban 'sadly archaic' |publisher=theage.com.au |date=July 4, 2003 |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/03/1057179099732.html |title=theage.com.au |publisher=The Age |date=July 4, 2003 |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref> The film was not released in the United States, but Clark says that it was because of the producer's failure to get releases for the music used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nerve.com/content/the-nerve-interview-larry-clark|title=The Never Interview: Larry Clark|publisher=Never|date=September 20, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227113600/http://www.nerve.com/content/the-nerve-interview-larry-clark|archive-date=December 27, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 2015, Clark collaborated alongside notable skateboard and clothing brand, [[Supreme (brand)|Supreme]], to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ''Kids''  with a collection of decks, T-shirts, and sweatshirts that feature stills from the iconic film. The collection was released on May 21, 2015, in Supreme's New York, Los Angeles, and London locations and on May 23 in its Japan location.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.complex.com/style/2015/05/supreme-kids-20th-anniversary-collection|title=Supreme Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of 'Kids' With a Special Collection Dropping This Week|website=Complex}}</ref> 

Clark has won the top prizes at the [[Cognac Festival du Film Policier]] (for ''Another Day in Paradise''), the [[Stockholm Film Festival]] (for ''Bully'') and the [[Rome Film Festival]] (for ''Marfa Girl''). He has also competed for the [[Golden Palm]] (''Kids'') and [[Golden Lion]] (''Bully'').

==Filmography==
* ''[[Kids (film)|Kids]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Another Day in Paradise (film)|Another Day in Paradise]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Bully (2001 film)|Bully]]'' (2001)
* ''[[Teenage Caveman (2002 film)|Teenage Caveman]]'' (2002, television film)
* ''[[Ken Park]]'' (2002, co-directed with [[Edward Lachman]])
* ''[[Wassup Rockers]]'' (2005)
* ''[[Destricted]]'' (2006, segment "Impaled")
* ''[[Marfa Girl]]'' (2012)
* ''[[The Smell of Us]]'' (2014, French)
* ''[[Marfa Girl 2]]'' (2018)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/movies/marfa-girl-2-review.html|title=Review: 'Marfa Girl 2,' Larry Clark's Sequel to One of His Least-Known Films|newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 2018 |access-date=2018-11-03|language=en|last1=Ebiri |first1=Bilge }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0164187|Larry Clark}}

{{Larry Clark}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Larry}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Artists from Tulsa, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:20th-century American photographers]]
[[Category:21st-century American photographers]]
[[Category:Film directors from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Photographers from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:Skateboarding photographers]]