Lost Lake By Chris Lael Larson

North Portland

When

Feb. 7–Mar. 1, 2026

Every Saturday, Times vary

Free

Where

Carnation Contemporary

8371 N Interstate Ave #3
Portland, OR 97217

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

Lost Lake brings together photography, painting, and sculpture to explore and reimagine the landscape surrounding Lost Lake in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest. The work emerges from a cyclical process that alternates between time in the field and in the studio, ultimately resolving into photographic and sculptural pieces.

Chris Lael Larson began by walking the landscape, observing plant life, gathering materials, and taking photographs. In the studio, these elements are used to build temporary, altar-like constructions combining printed photographs, acrylic paint, shaped wood, and custom mirror elements. These arrangements are lit and photographed to compress space and destabilize depth.

Photographs are then painted on, re-photographed, or integrated into sculptural works alongside mirror and crystal elements. These reflective surfaces create subtle visual feedback loops — images reflecting images, light reflecting light — echoing the recursive systems found in nature and in practice. Through this layered process, the work challenges perception and invites viewers to slow down and look more closely, engaging with the shifting relationships between image, object, and material.

Chris Lael Larson (b. Ohio, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon. Working across photography, painting, sculpture, and installation, Larson is known for dissolving the boundary between the photographic and the painterly, creating works defined by layered perspectives, vibrant color, and an emphasis on depth. His practice centers on constructing temporary, altar-like installations from photographs, paint, found objects, and natural elements, which he then captures in a hyperreal lighting style. These photographs often become canvases themselves, painted upon and reintegrated into new works alongside their original source materials.