About

Working primarily in oils, on canvas, linen, and more recently on hand-built birch panels he prepares himself, LaCour’s practice has changed considerably over the years. Early work explored anthropomorphism, allegory, and the strangeness of interiority: figures, animals, and invented symbols that were more psychological than representational. More recently he has turned outward. The California landscape, the Bay, the coast, the hills, has become his primary subject, and he finds himself drawn to the problem of depicting space: how light falls on water, how a trail disappears into eucalyptus, the horizon line obscured by fog. He does not paint from a fixed point of view, and is drawn to perspectives that distort or extend: looking up, looking down, the eye pulled toward the edges of things.

Methodology & Perspective

Every painting begins with direct observation. Whether working from the California coast, the trails of Marin, or the urban edges of the East Bay, the process starts with looking: at light, at structure, at the way a place resists easy description. Subject matter has shifted over the years from figurative and allegorical work toward landscape, reflecting a growing interest in the external world as subject rather than backdrop. Conventional vantage points hold little appeal: views from below, compositions that pull the eye toward the periphery, scenes where the horizon is cropped, tilted, or lost entirely.

Technical Craftsmanship

All work is executed in oils, across a range of surfaces including canvas, linen, and hand-prepared birch hardwood panels. The birch panels, which LaCour constructs and seals himself, offer a rigid, archival foundation that holds paint differently than fabric supports and rewards a deliberate, layered approach. Each surface is prepared before paint is applied, and finished works receive an archival isolation coat. The palette tends toward French Ultramarine and earth tones, chosen for their depth and longevity rather than novelty.