Born in Japan to American parents, Larry Poons changed his name professionally to Lawrence Poons in 1982. In this painting titled King Tige, he had begun painting vertical squirts of paint on his canvas. In earlier works, he painted in sweeping arcs that ran diagonally across the surface of the canvas. These thick vertical drips of paint applied to the canvas recall earlier times for some. Melted crayons in art class often comes to mind as does making ?cool? candle holders using wine bottles and a variety of different colored candles. The vertical drips of paint in King Tige end abruptly at the top of the canvas. Some think of waterfalls or waves while viewing Poon?s large vertical paintings with their unusual mix of colors and thick textures. Before taking up painting, Poons studied music with the modern composer, John Cage at the New England Conservatory of Music in the mid 1950’s. After two years studying music, he switched to painting. He attended the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965.