Larry Cook: On the Scene

Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts | Grand Rapids, Michigan

On the Scene is a solo exhibition that explores the cultural aesthetic of “club” photography and the tradition of painted backdrops. The featured photographs, taken over the past two years in the Washington, D.C. area, showcase Larry Cook’s makeshift photo booths, which include hand-painted backdrops depicting landscapes of leisure or luxury products.

Within the exhibition, Cook investigates the formal, social, and cultural dimensions of this photographic practice. His images—featuring subjects posing before these painted scenes—emphasize performance, expression, and spectacle. These contemporary works are presented alongside archival photographs dating back to 1980, drawing attention to pose, gesture, and choreography as defining aspects of this visual tradition.

To encourage active engagement, the exhibition includes an interactive installation with a vintage backdrop, inviting visitors to participate in the practice themselves. On the Scene weaves together pictorial realism, fantasy, and photography to examine broader questions of status, individualism, and materialism within Black culture.