Cascades - Chris Lael Larson

Aptly title Cascades, the work of this new series merges photography, painting, and assemblage to explore and reimagine the Cascade Head Preserve on the Oregon Coast. The process is both cyclical and immersive, blending time in the field with work in the studio. 

This recursive process layers perspectives and materials, creating vibrant, multi-dimensional images that challenge perception — what’s a photo, what’s real, what’s painted? That ambiguity is intentional. It mirrors the layered, dynamic complexity of the natural world and invites viewers to slow down and look more closely.

Inspired by nature’s own rhythms and interconnections, each piece in Cascades grows from the one before. Photography leads to assemblage, which leads to painting, which circles back to photography. Throughout, the heart of the work remains the same: a deep, sensory engagement with place”.