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Ryan Larkin and the addictive allure of illusions.

Article Excerpt
During the summer of 1958, 15-year-old Ryan Larkin, his brother and friends were playing on a boat in a lake. Something went dreadfully wrong and Larkin's brother died. "It was a terrible boating accident. I was unable to save him. I was on the boat and was physically unable to save his life. I felt terrible and missed him greatly," Larkin would later say. The death of his brother quietly fractured the Larkin family. Something changed. "I was always the goofy, little guy, and they figured I goofed up again." Nothing was ever said, but he felt his family's scorching eyes. Larkin, a man who could bring beautiful images to life, could not save the life dearest to him.

More than cocaine and alcohol addiction, the downfall of animator Ryan Larldn--from a one-time protege of Norman McLaren and creator of one of the most influ ential animation films of all time, Walking (1968), to living on welfare in a Montreal mission house, panhandling for spending money began that summer day in 1958. Ryan Larkin grew up in Dorval, a suburb of Montreal. His father was an airplane mechanic and his mother worked as a secretary. He proved early on to be a special child. By the age of 10, he was already making oil paintings and at 13 was accepted into the prestigious Montreal School of Fine Arts. Larkin excelled at the school and with the help of his father landed a job at the NFB. He initially worked as an animator on instructional films for the army and navy. While the content of the films was not particularly inspiring, the overall experience was pivotal for Larkin. "Ryan's first assignments," says former head of English animation, Robert Verrall, "involved the talents of Rend Jodoin, Sidney Goldsmith, Kaj Pindal and others, not bad company for a 19-year-old apprentice. Such programs were part of the NFB mandate and allowed the hiring and training of people who would otherwise not have seen the inside of the place."

At the urging of Wolf Koenig, Norman McLaren began holding after-hours sessions for young NFB artists like Larkin. Within these...

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