The work of Ida Larsen would be categorized as textile art, or, if one prefers, fiber art. Textile art does not necessarily have to be made of textile, but uses the principle of the material, such as the lines, the knots, the rhythms and, most importantly, its surface and structure.

Ida Larsen explores the possibilities of usual everyday materials. She focuses on how one material changes when combined with another. To do this, she has chosen a concrete and simple, almost minimal expression: she transforms materials into three dimensional objects, installations, photo, and video.

Ida Larsen often works with lines and points, which gather or spread out in different rhythms. She uses the contrast in the materials, combining/joining hard and soft, warm and cold, organic and synthetic, and so on.

Some materials bring out certain feelings (senses): for example with foam rubber which has developed a patina of age, one can almost smell the stuffy bedrooms. Adhesive tape beside having a similarity to skin, is a material which holds other materials together, just like skin does. Paper, like textile, is a part of everyday life and used in uncountable ways. Ida Larsen tries to bring all senses to her work, and it is and has always been allowed to touch her objects.

In her search for materials, Ida uses media such as photography and video which help her develop ideas spontaneously and are also used to involve materials which are not directly palpable.

The photo and video works are like the objects and installations : a simple combination of materials, a direct expression. Ida prefers to work with photo and video as these media get closest to capturing the moment. Therefore, her works are usually not edited or processed with Photoshop, because by editing photo/video the moment gets lost and the result becomes different from what was actually captured .

The body as a “wrapping” is one of the latest themes of Ida’s work, her special focus being on the skin, the exterior, and the visible. She interpreted it with materials usually used for wrapping, such as paper, bands, or adhesive tape, among others. Some of the materials are transparent, and offer a peek into the inside, others are completely opaque, so that only through imagination or unwrapping it, the inside can be exposed. Some packages are hard to open and it takes time to open them, for others it is easier, and some are almost unwrapped.

Another major theme of Ida’s latest work is the body as a tool: the tool for reproduction, the natural origin and purpose of the body. In these works she has often used seeds and soil to create living and growing objects.