Under the influence

Larry Clark’s homecoming and the dirtiest act he ever saw in Tulsa

Larry Clark never wants to talk about Tulsa. 

His ambivalent relationship with the city—and the controversial photo book named for it—has been made clear, both in press interviews and in the way he’s responded to requests for various appearances. 

But Todd Lincoln and Jeremy Lamberton have convinced Clark to return for Tulsa Overground, where the filmmaker will screen several of his more obscure short films. 

Despite his salty relationship with press and promotion, he was kind enough to indulge a 20-minute phone call, and, to my surprise, spoke of Tulsa with a nostalgic fondness at odds with the stories I’ve heard over the years. 

JOSHUA KLINE: I just saw some of your new paintings from the UTA Artist Space, which were beautiful, especially the “Heroin” series. You’re not known as a painter—what inspired you to start?

LARRY CLARK: I always wanted to paint but I hadn’t painted much. I started painting in Paris five or six years ago, and then I had some major surgery on my neck and my back and my spine, and I was laid up in New York for a year. I couldn’t really do anything so I started painting again. 

The doctor had given me a lot of pain medication, so I was kind of one of those people—there’s so many of them now—that get addicted to prescription drugs because of that, the doctor giving you opium. Yeah, so I knew I was getting an opium habit as I was recovering from the surgery, and I kind of got the feeling that I was addicted to heroin. So, I started making these paintings—I painted 10 paintings during that year. 

KLINE: Is that something you’re going to keep doing? 

CLARK: Yes sir, yeah, I started painting again and it’s interesting to see where I go now because I’m not taking the drugs anymore, so it’s a whole different mindset. But I’m always working, I’m always making something, no matter what I’m doing. I always find some way to make work, ya know?

KLINE: At Tulsa Overground, you’re going to be showing a series of short films that haven’t been seen much, is that correct? 

CLARK: Yeah, yeah, I’m going to show a couple of films. They’re only 20 or 25 minutes long, and maybe I can find a third one, but I have two I’m going to show now, for sure.

One film is an interview of Harold Hunter, who was in “Kids,” my first film. He’s not with us anymore so I’m happy to show the Harold film, which is pretty funny. And then the second film is called “Jonathan.” They’re fun, you’ll enjoy them, I think. 

KLINE: Speaking of “Kids,” I found a stray VHS copy of that when I was a teenager, not long after the film had come out. It was one of those movies that I hid in my closet and watched surreptitiously and showed my friends. It made quite an impression on me at that age.

CLARK: Oh great, great, great. Perfect age to see the film, I think, ya know? I made it for you. I made it for people your age then. I was very pleased I could make it—it was something I’d wanted to do for a long time. 

But I’m still making films. I did a film a few years ago in Marfa, Texas called “Marfa Girl” and I did a sequel, “Marfa Girl 2,” which we’ve just finished editing. It was a long, long editing process and that’s going to come out this year. And then I have a French film that I’m gonna put out this year, “The Smell of Us.” But my cut of the film—I did the cut for the French, and then I did a separate cut, which is really a different film, which I’m going to distribute myself this year, I think. It’s ready to go, it’s finished. So, I’ll have two films out this year. 

KLINE: Your relationship with Tulsa, your hometown, has informed and fueled at least some of your work, and the book “Tulsa” put you on the map as a serious artist. What’s your take on the city now versus the Tulsa you knew growing up?

CLARK:  I haven’t spent that much time there in the last 10, 20 years, but it kind of seems the same to me. I mean, obviously, buildings have changed, but the people seem to be basically the same. I don’t think the people have changed too much. I don’t know if I can really explain that properly, but it doesn’t seem to be so different to me. Which is interesting. 

The “Tulsa” book hit hard, kind of like overnight—some kind of fame, or infamy, one of the two. And I knew right away that I wasn’t going to live off my ass, I wasn’t going to live off that work. So I just kept working and didn’t look back. I just kept working. It’s always like that for me, it’s the way I’m built. I always think of everything as a comeback. I don’t like to bask so much. I’m always looking forward, I think, and not trying to live off the past in my head at all. And I think that’s a good thing—that’s a good thing. I don’t even talk about “Tulsa,” the early work, anymore. Such a long time ago. Amazing how long ago that first book was. 

But it’ll be fun to come back to Tulsa again and see my friends. We’re all getting old now, so now’s the time to do that.

KLINE: You have a lot of friends still around Tulsa? 

CLARK: I have a few, I have some childhood friends who are still around. When I was down a few months ago, six or seven of us got together, which was really fun. We had a great time. 

I went to Brady Town when I was there the last time, and, you know, that section of town used to be so funky. It was really funky when I was a kid, and I talked to people that said it was still funky until a few years ago. But it really looks good. I just happened to come into town the day before the [Bob] Dylan show. I was able to get a couple of tickets and we saw Dylan on a Saturday night over there at the musical theater, which was the same theater that I went to when I was a kid and saw all the early rock and roll shows. I saw everybody—Chuck Berry, Little Richard—everybody back then. 

I’ve always thought of myself as really lucky that I was 12 years old when rock and roll started. To be in it at the very beginning … I saw Elvis when I was 12 in Tulsa at the fairgrounds. Wanda Jackson opened for him, and he came out and it was amazing, just amazing. He did, like, 25 minutes and never stopped moving. It was the dirtiest act I’ve ever seen in my life, I mean it was really dirty. And it was great. All the girls would scream—I went back to school and couldn’t hear for three or four days from all the girls screaming. But anyway, seeing Dylan in the same theater where I saw the greatest rock and roll shows of the late ‘50s was really something. It’s still the same—same bathroom, same trough—it’s fantastic. And the ramp going up to the balcony, where do you see a ramp going up to a balcony anymore? It was just so much fun for me to come back. 

Larry Clark films, Q&A, and Signing
Sat., May 6, 8:30 p.m. – 10:00, Flyloft, $15

For more from Joshua, read his interview with David Grann.