David Larcom has been visiting Truth or Consequences since 2019. The first winter he wandered into town he met Sidney Bryan who took him seriously and invited him to paint on the walls of his businesses including several of the town’s motels and spas like the Pelican Spa.
“I have been coming down every winter since that first winter after I met Sid,” he said. “I work with his painter, and we have been trying to improve the look of the place.”
And when he says “the place,” he means the whole town. Larcom’s work can be found on walls all across town.
When Larcom got to town that first year he looked around and thought it was a nice enough little place but seemed a bit run down, and he came up with the idea of making an art gallery out of it.
“This town is sitting in the center of three large cities,” he said. “They ought to have a good tourist trade. My thought was to do a drive through art gallery for T or C.
He started at Ace Lodge up on Date Street with a mountain lion and roadrunner and has been painting the town ever since.
Born and raised in Colorado, Larcom has painted across the United States and, during his time with the Navy, in many other countries as well.
“I’ve been to all 50 states and 16 countries, I always make a point of leaving a mural in each one,” he said. “For 10 years I’ve been driving back and for the just painting pictures, then I came across this place, it was a junky town, but it just seemed to have so much potential.”
There were already a few art galleries in town, so stopped Larcom for a while, met Sid, “did all sorts of work for him, spread my wings and did other stuff.”
Since that summer, he has completed some 40 murals across town and in people’s houses as well.
After many years of experience, more than 400 murals and thousands of paintings, Larcom said, “I can draw pretty well. I can do just about anything –except abstract. I just couldn’t do that, wouldn’t want to do that.”
Abstract art, he said, has no story and he likes art that tells a story, a joke and has some narrative meaning to it.
“I think it’s important if you are painting public murals that you paint for the public,” he said. “You have to do things that appeal to as many people as possible.”
Having traveled the world, Larcom said he has never had any trouble finding inspiration for his artwork.
“The old world is kind of beautiful and I like doing animals anyway,” he asid. “So I just paint animals. If I’m not sure I’ll look on the internet maybe do a couple of sketches and then can I just do it without a photo.”
Painting on a large scale is a skill he has earned; he’s been doing it a long time.
“I call that practice,” he said. “All those years of practice – I always wanted to do a horse, now I can just do them, any horse, any breed.”
Larcome is happy to bring color and work to Truth or Consequences. He has taken that kindergarten talent he had when he won every art contest he entered and built it as a discipline he is good at.
“I'm not looking for credit,” he said. “I would like to see the plan work and turn this town into the gem it should be.”
