Nothing Bygone About Larry Vigon

From Iconic Album Covers to Museum-Quality Paintings, Creativity Flows Through This Prolific Artist

*Artist Larry Vigon | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom*

Larry Vigon is one of the lucky ones. At just 7 years old, he had it all figured out ― he would spend his life making art.

Vigon’s parents supported his raw talent with lessons at home. His elementary school encouraged him by excusing him from math class so he could paint in the hallway, “which probably explains why my math skills aren’t what they should be,” he said. And many decades later, he’s still producing with the same curiosity and passion as that eager kid with a brush in his hand.

“Doing art is like breathing for me,” Vigon said. “If I’m not doing it, I don’t feel right.” Even though he’s 75, he feels as creative as ever, “Maybe even more so, because I’m always learning, always solving design problems,” he said. “And I’m still having too much fun.”

At Pasadena’s prestigious ArtCenter College of Design, Vigon honed his inherent gift into a marketable skill. He had his work cut out for him. He went from being a big fish in a small pond to a plankton in the Pacific. “I remember walking into the lobby on my first day and seeing the senior work on the wall and thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing? How did I get in here?’”

With a characteristic sense of purpose, Vigon set his sights on one day designing record covers. “I’ve been listening to music since I could turn on a radio,” he said. It was the first thing he did when he woke up, and the last thing he did before bed. “So, I always thought the best possible job in the world would be to design albums ― to combine my love of music with my love of art,” he said.