Steve grew up on the Rocky Mountain Front in the small town of Choteau, Montana. Those rural beginnings and later years that included rock bands, hot rods, drag racing, and a long professional career in graphic design all inform his art. He identifies as Metis and is an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana.

As a progression from illustration work Steve began fine art painting in earnest in the early 1980’s. He has exhibited in several regional group shows including at the Hockaday Museum, Kalispell MT; the Yellowstone Museum, Billings MT; and the Clymer Museum, Ellensburg WA. LaRance’s paintings have been aptly called “Post-Westerns”, combining realism and social commentary, often evoking the West of nostalgia in collision with the mundane realities he sees around him. Familiar objects and contemporary scenes are re-presented in a way that invites the viewer into his wry perspective.

LaRance says, “I draw on my experience of the American West from the mid-20th century forward to today. I try to distill and convey moments in time so to create a shared connection.”

Western Art Collector magazine observed that “The artist is not as technique oriented as he is looking for narrative quality. This results in an underlying solitariness and sentimentality to these unfinished stories. LaRance’s loose interpretations of his observations deliver a value beyond what’s obvious.”