Liza Lou

Last updated
Liza Lou
Liza Lou Image.jpg
Born
New York City, New York, U.S.
Education San Francisco Art Institute
Notable work
Kitchen; Backyard; Continuous Mile; The Clouds
Movementsculpture, feminist art
Awards MacArthur Fellows Program
2002
Anonymous Was A Woman Award
2013
Website lizalou.com

Liza Lou (born 1969) is an American visual artist. She is best known for producing large scale sculpture using glass beads. Lou ran a studio in Durban, South Africa from 2005 to 2014. [1] She currently has a nomadic practice, working mostly outdoors in the Mojave Desert in southern California. [2] Lou's work is grounded in domestic craft and intersects with the larger social economy. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Liza Lou was born in New York City, and raised in Los Angeles. [1] Lou attended the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California, but dropped out in 1989 when it became evident her professors did not take her work with beads seriously. [4] [5]

Career

Early career (1989-1996)

Lou came to prominence with the 168-square-foot (15.6 m2) work Kitchen (1991-1996), a to-scale and fully equipped replica of a kitchen covered in beads. [6] The work took five years to complete [7] and was followed with Back Yard (1996-1999), for which Lou enlisted the help of volunteers to recreate grass in a 525-square-foot (48.8 m2) model of a backyard. [8]

Lou's career has subversively pushed the glass bead as a medium in art making from early representational works to more abstract works which evolved out of her time collaborating with skilled bead artisians in South Africa. [9]

Durban, South Africa (2005–2014)

Lou's practice evolved from themes of labor and craft to include community. Her expansive practice formed out of necessity as many hands were needed to continue to weave and sew large scale beaded sculptures and installations. [10] [7] In 2005, Lou established a studio in Durban, South Africa, a complement to her studio in Los Angeles. [11] Lou reached out to an organization called Aid to Artisans with an idea that her bead practice could provide income in high crises communities. [12] Their dialog resulted in Lou's moving to Durban to work with a collective of Zulu women. At the time, Durban was the epicenter of the HIV epidemic and unemployment was as high as 70% in the townships. [1] In Durban, Lou created many sculptures and paintings working "elbow-to-elbow" with 50 highly skilled South African Zulu beadworkers. [13] Lou has said that working in Africa imparted to her the importance of how an artwork is made, in that the making cannot be separated from the meaning of the work. [14] [15]

Lou's work came to embrace process over concept as evidenced by her 2016 installation, The Waves. This work showcased a thousand white beaded dishcloth sized squares revealing marks from the hands that made them, as well as woven beads that are cracked, streaked, and stained. [9] Lou credits the women from her Durban studio with expanding her sense of beauty. "I am touched by the beauty and grace of the women I have been privileged to work with, and by their joy and laughter." [16]

Southern California (2014–present)

Lou returned to Los Angeles in 2014 but continued to run her Durban studio, commissioning woven panels and canvas that would be incorporated into her installations. [1] Lou's current practice often finds her working outdoors in the solitude of the Mojave desert. [2] Lou is revealing more of her own hand in newer works by incorporating painted gestural mark making. “[Solitude] has given me the opportunity to explore my own gesture in ways that I haven’t done in many many years.” Lou's solitary practice embodies a challenge to stay present and grounded in the silent labor of her work. [11] [17]

However, when the 2020 Pandemic required isolation and social distancing, Lou found enforced solitude onerous. She took to instagram to invite the public to join her a in communal project called Apartogether, in which she prompted artists and the public to gather together materials and old clothes to piece together a quilt or more symbolically a "comfort blanket." [18] She hosted artist talks and "sew-in" sessions via zoom to engage participants. [19]

Her 2021 body of work "Desire Lines" features beaded sculptures that are monochromatic, echoing the Joshua Tree desert landscape where she often works "en plein air." [20] [12]

Awards

Lou won the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2002 and the Anonymous Was a Woman Artist Award in 2013. [21] [22]

Notable works

Kitchen 1991-1996

Lou single-handedly created this career launching installation throughout the first decade of her 20's. [7] Kitchen is a 168-square-foot mosaiced fully furnished kitchen with millions of shimmering glass beads. [7] The installation took her five years "and a few pair of tweezers" to complete. Components such as cereal flakes were fashioned with paper mache then coated with glue and glass beads. [9] Kitchen is a statement on the invisible yet powerful value of women's labor. [23] Kitchen questioned the ideas of 'women's work' just as the studded material challenged the distinction between 'serious; male art and women's arts and crafts.' [9] The work was first shown in part as Kitchenette in 1994 at the California State University, Fullerton art gallery. Following a promising opening, Lou sent postcards of the installed work to American curators she admired. in 1995, Lou successfully captured the attention of Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum. [7] Kitchen was first exhibited in it's entirety at the New Museum in a 1996 group exhibition called "A Labor of Love." The experimental group show included 50 artists whose practice embraced labor intensive process or craft in unique ways. Tucker assured Lou that her curatorial intention was not to reinforce stereotypes but to challenge "cherished hierarchies" by exhibiting work that pushed the boundaries of what makes a work "art." [24] Kitchen continues to inspire conversations about craft, art, and feminism. [25] Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, a group show at the Whitney Museum, displayed Kitchen after ten years in storage in another group show designed to bring awareness to the artists employing craft in their practice. The exhibition is organized by Jennie Goldstein, Assistant Curator, and Elisabeth Sherman, Assistant Curator, with Ambika Trasi, Curatorial Assistant. They state, "by highlighting marginalized modes of artistic production, these artists challenge the power structures that determine artistic value." [26] After viewing the exhibition Garage Magazine journalist Sophie Kemp wrote that "Kitchen is a deeply campy and seductive piece of feminist art." [27] Kitchen is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. [28]

Backyard 1996-1999

Backyard is a 528 square foot installation of a garden featuring 250,000 blades of grass. Each 'blade' of grass is a wire strung with beads. This threading process would have taken Lou 40 years to complete the installation thus prompting Lou to brake her solitary practice by inviting volunteers from the public to help. [29] What struck Lou about the collaborative process is that everyone's threaded wire appeared slightly different even though they had the same materials and prompt. Backyard is in the permanent collection of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris. [30]

Continuous Mile, 2006-2008

In 2006, Lou started creating one of her most notable works, Continuous Mile, with help of a team of Zulu women. Continuous Mile is composed of more than 4.5 million black beads, sewn into ropes which are then coiled into a cylindrical shape. The theme of this work is "work," or process. As Lou states, "The idea was to employ as many people as possible, using the slowest possible technique in order to engage a community, and to build homes in the process of making an art work." [4] [31] This work was acquired by the Corning Museum of Glass in 2014. [32]

The Clouds, 2015-2018

For three years Lou collaborated with her Durban Studio artisans in South Africa to stitch together 600 hand sewn beaded cloths. The final installation consists of a 100 foot long canvas artwork titled “The Cloud.” This work originally debuted at the 21st Biennale of Sydney in 2018. Lou first incorporates oil paints into her practice with this work stating, "it's the first time I've made work where I've really shown my gesture." [23] The Cloud also showcases a new technique in which Lou hammers the woven beaded cloths to reveal an underlying framework of frayed threads unraveling from their previous grid. This technique reveals the dedicated labor required to produce a seemingly perfect hand sewn beaded cloth. [17] Lou describes this method as evolving out of exploring the question, 'what can the beads do, that paint can't do.' [20] The Clouds is notable in that it pushes the boundaries between painting and sculpture. [33]

Solo exhibitions

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lehrer, Adam, " [ dead link ], Forbes, October 21, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  2. 1 2 3 "In the studio with… Liza Lou". Apollo Magazine. 2021-08-24. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  3. ↑ Ollman, Leah (2018-11-01). "Liza Lou". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  4. 1 2 "Continuous Mile". Glass App. Corning Museum of Glass. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Sheets, Hilarie M. (2020-03-26). "Weaving a Way Out of Isolation". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  6. ↑ sabine7 (6 September 2005). "Kitchen". MOCO Art. MOCO LOCO. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Schneider, Julie (2021-06-06). "The Journey Behind Liza Lou's Behemoth Beaded Kitchen". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  8. ↑ sabine7 (7 September 2005). "Backyard". MOCO Art. MOCO LOCO. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Magazine, Wallpaper* (2018-09-09). "Artist Liza Lou on the teamwork behind her beadwork". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  10. ↑ "Beading Off: Artist Liza Lou Talks New Show at Lehmann Maupin". Hashtag Legend. 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  11. 1 2 Ollman, Leah (2018-11-01). "Liza Lou". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  12. 1 2 Woodcock, Victoria (2021-09-25). "Liza Lou's 'beautiful little bunker' in Joshua Tree". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  13. ↑ Christopher Bagley (Sep 2008). "Liza Lou". Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  14. ↑ Wilkinson, Isabel (2016-05-12). "One Artist's Surprising, Powerful New Subject: 1,000 Dishcloths". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  15. ↑ "Liza Lou". The Talks. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  16. ↑ "ArtAsiaPacific: In Collaboration Interview With Liza Lou". www.artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  17. 1 2 "'My Whole Life Has Been Following This Single Material': How Liza Lou's Obsession With Beads Transformed a Village in Africa". Artnet News. 2018-09-10. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  18. ↑ Sheets, Hilarie M. (2020-03-26). "Weaving a Way Out of Isolation". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  19. ↑ Lou, Liza (2020-07-10). "Liza Lou on Building Community During Coronavirus". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  20. 1 2 Yerebakan, Osman Can (2021-09-17). "Liza Lou Reflects on Three Decades of Making Wondrous Works from Tiny Glass Beads". Artsy. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  21. ↑ "Recipients to Date". Anonymous Was A Woman. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  22. ↑ "Liza Lou". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  23. 1 2 "Beads, Labor and Sexy Feminism: Liza Lou". TLmagazine. 2018-09-03. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  24. ↑ Tucker, Marsha. A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World.
  25. ↑ "Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019". whitney.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  26. ↑ "Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019". whitney.org. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  27. ↑ Kemp, Sophie (2020-03-01). "Is There Anything More Evocative Of Women's Work Than a Beaded Kitchen?". Garage. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  28. ↑ "Liza Lou: Kitchen, 1991-95". Whitney Museum of American Art. Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Giles, Oliver. "Artist Liza Lou On Beadwork, Teamwork And Her New Exhibitions In Asia". Tatler Asia. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  30. ↑ "Back Yard by Liza Lou". Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  31. ↑ Oldknow, Tina. "Liza Lou." Collecting Contemporary Glass: Art and Design after 1990 from the Corning Museum of Glass. Corning: Corning Museum of Glass, 2014. 126-27. Print.
  32. ↑ An Interview with Liza Lou, archived from the original on 2021-12-20, retrieved 2021-09-14
  33. ↑ Rathe, Adam (2018-08-30). "The Creative Questionnaire: Liza Lou". Town & Country. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  34. ↑ Liza Lou's catalogue on artnet Monographs
  35. ↑ Hodara, Susan (2016-01-02). "Liza Lou's Handmade Sea of Sparkling Glass". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-09-09.

Further reading

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