Larry Rivers’s 1981 painting Growing is a compact but revealing work that encapsulates many of the artist’s late-career interests: the compression of autobiography and art history, the interplay of figuration and abstraction, and a wry engagement with American popular culture. Below is a focused, structured essay that situates the painting historically, analyzes its form and content, and assesses its significance within Rivers’s oeuvre and late 20th‑century American art.
Artistic Boundary-Pushing: Within the art world, the work is often analyzed as an example of a creator pushing past traditional social boundaries to document the human condition. growing 1981 larry rivers
Larry Rivers was a prominent American artist known for his work in various mediums, including painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Born in 1923, Rivers gained fame for his unique style that blended elements of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Growing (1981) — Larry Rivers Larry Rivers’s 1981
Themes: It explores the themes of aging, bodily changes, and the evolving relationship between a father and his children. Germination: Use a method that works best for
The piece is noted for its specific technical and thematic elements:
: The painting incorporates still images captured from the video footage.
The 1980s saw the emergence of many iconic cannabis strains, some of which have become legendary in the cannabis community. Larry Rivers could refer to a specific cultivar or phenotype from that era. Unfortunately, detailed information on very old strains can be scarce. Here’s a general guide on growing cannabis, which can be applied to many strains, including those from the 1980s: