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Wes Larsen HEADSHOT

Wes Larsen

  • Assistant Professor, Design & Visual Communication
  • Co-Area Head, Design & Visual Communication

Education

  • MFA, 2D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, 2020
  • BFA, Visual Communication Design, University of Texas at Arlington, 2012

Biography

Wes Larsen has been Co-Area Head of Design and Visual Communication since Spring of 2026, Assistant Professor since Fall 2024, and Visiting Assistant Professor from Fall 2020 to Spring 2024. While studying 2D Design at Cranbrook Academy of Art from 2018 to 2020 he taught in Graphic Design at Wayne State University and in 2D Foundations at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design from University of Texas at Arlington, Wes worked alongside Glenn Potter as Partner and CoFounder of the independent design studio Tocco, focused on branding, identity, and messaging projects with small businesses and community initiatives in the Historic Southside neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas from 2012 to 2019. Tocco’s clients and collaborators included The Southside Urban Market, The Forth Worth Creative Cooperative, Fort Worth Bike Sharing, Mid-America Print Council, Southern Graphics Council International, The Austin Chamber, the UT-Arlington College of Liberal Arts, Rahr Brewing Co., and the legendary Spiral Diner among many other independent artists, organizers, and business owners.

Since 2018, Wes has worked collaboratively with his wife and creative partner Lindsey Larsen, under the moniker WHAT–THAT. Together they are focused on critical design projects with artists, institutions, and organizations including The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America, DesignInquiry, and The Cranbrook Art Museum. WHAT–THAT has published and presented writing and research for The College Art Association Conference, Multiple Formats Art Book Fair & Symposium, The Midwest Art History Society, and Hubei University of Technology. Through their experimental publishing initiative, WHAT–THAT self-publishes handmade RISO books, photography, poetry, drawing, and other graphic ephemera and has exhibited work at The Cincinnati Art Book Fair, Multiple Formats Art Book Fair & Symposium, and Field Projects Gallery.

Outside of his art and design studio practice, Wes enjoys cooking with friends, gardening in the Summer, seeing live music, playing guitar, running, cycling, being in nature, staring at Lake Michigan.

Links

Recent & Selected Works

gif of posters stacking and unstacking on top of each other on a speckled black background
Limited Print Suite Special Edition of Planetscapes Vol. 1 Cassette, professionally dubbed, pad printed with metallic silver ink on blue tint shell with clear case and printed j-card. 2024
Photo of a book, open to printed images in grey and orange of a living room shelving unit and a portrait of a man
Butler, Cook, Chauffeur, Maid, 60p. 2-color riso print on French Paper’s Grout Grey Construction in 70lb Text Weight. 2025
Photo of a book open to page of a woman's face, on the opposite page is her upper arm and shoulder in motion
Peace the World Together, Boys 01, 60p. two-color riso printed with french fold edge printing and double-fan perfect binding. 2025
black and white image of palm trees on the skyline, the top third of the page is black
Insufficient Meanings (in Defense of Rasterization), a 250p. photo essay printed by SmartPress in Chanhassen, MN. 2020
image of two people working in a photo darkroom
In residence with DesignInquiry at Bear Run Nature Reserve in Mill Run PA. 2025
image of a man standing in front of a house in the snow
In residence at Directangle Press, Bethlehem, NH. 2025
Artists Now! Wes Larsen December 3rd, 2025

Lean Into the Chaos, Fall Into the Void

Artistic Exhibitions & Artwork

  • Cincinnatti Art Book Fair, September 6 — 7, 2025, The Carnegie, Covington, Kentucky
  • FOLD Art Book Exhibition, Stop-Gap Projects, April 4 — June 15, 2025 Columbia, Missouri
  • Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, March 22, 2025, Boston University 808 Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Entropy, Design Inquiry Solid/Liquid/Gas Residency, November 21, 2025, High Meadow Educational Complex, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
  • Traces Online Exhibition, April 29, 2024, Field Projects Gallery, New York, New York

Creative Works Published/Cited by Others

  • Butler, Cook, Chauffeur, Maid, Image Reproduction SGCI Graphic Impressions Journal 2025
  • Lordless Relic #1, Image Reproduction Occult Studies Vol. 3, Snake Hair Press 2024