Filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and Martin Scorcese were influenced by Clark’s work, and while the subject matter is harsh, the level of artistry is high. Writing about Tulsa in The Photobook Volume 1, authors Martin Parr and Gerry Badger say that the "incessant focus on the sleazy aspect of the lives portrayed, to the exclusion of almost anything else – whether photographed from the 'inside' or not – raises concerns about exploitation and drawing the viewer into a prurient, voyeuristic relationship with the work. And yet he survived, like Nan Goldin after him, by picking up a camera and shooting the chaos of his crazy life – even as he wanted to do anything but that. Larry Clark is an American photographer and filmmaker known for his raw and unfiltered depictions of youth culture. Second edition (first hardcover edition), published in either 1979 or 1983, depending on which source you trust, and printed by Rapaport Printing in New York.

Although this book predates his iconic films by at least two decades, Tulsa is quintessential Clark. This is the title as given on the title page; the front cover and spine both read Photography from 1839 to Today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY. While a teenager Clark developed his photography skills working as an assistant to his mother, a door-to-door baby photographer. It is a more thoughtful book, but it also prefigures Clark's seeming obsession with the wayward lives of teenagers, which has since become the central theme of his films, most controversially Kids, and later books like 2008's Los Angeles Vol 1, in which he trails a bunch of skater kids from Compton, east Los Angeles. Tulsa demonstrated a new style of photography that was subjective, alienated and completely detached from any social agenda.Considered shocking for its graphic portrayal of the intimate details of its subjects' risky lives, the book launched Clark's career. In his collages and videos of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he broadened this investigation into revealing the ways that mass media alternately creates, rejects, and eroticizes young people. Hardcover, very good in near very good slightly rippled jacket with slight scuffing and light wear to edges. C. Stunning autobiographical photo essay of an intravenous drug user with gritty photos of drug addicts, criminals and gun play.

Next week, Foam in Amsterdam pairs images from Tulsa with photographs from Clark's follow-up, Teenage Lust, for a show that reminds us just how unsettling Clark's early vision of the teenage "outlaw life" was, and remains. Like many of his other works, Clark presents a dynamic portrayal of troubled teens, juxtaposing their youthful innocence and dark lifestyles, reminding the reader that "Once the needle goes in it never comes out. Its publication in 1971 "caused a sensation within the photographic community", leading to a new interest in autobiographical work. Often controversial, Clark’s black-and-white images unflinchingly capture overt sexuality, drug use, and violence, as seen in his iconic photobook Tulsa (1971) and his debut feature film Kids (1995).The raw, haunting images taken in 1963, 1968, and 1971 document a youth culture progressively overwhelmed by self-destruction -- and are as moving and disturbing today as when they first appeared. After Tulsa, he produced Teenage Lust (1983), a series of photographs depicting adolescent sexuality, Larry Clark (1992), and The Perfect Childhood (1993). Ever interested by teenage subcultures, Clark chose young amphetamine users in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma as his subject matter for this book Included are 50 black and white photographs that examine their daily lives. This exhibition comes with a parental warning (and controlled access) but it also comes with high praise.

In 2010, a retrospective of Clark's work, Kiss the past hello, was held at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. George Eastman House ( Rochester, New York) possesses a complete set of the fifty prints used to make the original book. With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South.Larry Clark's photographs in Tulsa are unflinching portrayals of difficult and often unsightly circumstances viewed through a participant's eyes. Larry Clark, born in Tulsa, worked in his family's commercial photographic portrait business before studying photography with Walter Sheffer at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1961 to 1963. Cover image from Tulsa made into a 23" x 18" poster from an exhibition at the Robert Freidus Gallery. An autobiography of his teenage years, it comprised more raw images of drug use and adolescent sex, as well as portraits of young hustlers working Times Square in New York, with a little of the edginess leavened by family snapshots and portraits. He had blurred the lines between participant and observer, but he’d also managed to be an artist instead of a voyeur.