NEW YORK, NY.- Lehmann Maupin announces its representation of artist Liza Lou. Known for her labor-intensive processes, Lou meditates on the beauty of repetition and materiality. Her practice is embedded with themes of social justice, with particular consideration to women’s issues.
“Liza Lou is a renowned artist with incredible international recognition,” said founder David Maupin. “The themes she addresses through her process-based works of class, gender, and politics are all strongly engaged with Lehmann Maupin’s programming. I have been following her work for many years and am excited to finally be working together.”
Lou first gained notoriety with her life-size sculpture, Kitchen (1991–96), which was exhibited at the New Museum, New York in 1996. Kitchen, an environment made entirely of glass beads, examines the domestic space as a psychological sphere and a structure of confinement. In this landmark work, Lou introduced her signature medium—glass beads—drawing attention to both sensuous surfaces and to a rigorous and deliberate studio practice.
Lou’s work acknowledges the dignity of labor in a world where it is often undervalued, unappreciated, and ignored. Utilizing public engagement as a platform to realize many of her large-scale sculptures and installations, she has challenged the artist’s role within a broader community. In 2005, Lou established a collective of more than thirty Zulu bead workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her long-term commitment to the collective not only serves as a means of empowerment for the artisans, but is a testament to the history and significance of the handmade.
In her most recent work Lou has created monochrome woven canvases, which reference Color Field painting and Minimalism, while focusing on the beauty and humanity revealed in the simple repetitive processes made by the human hand.
Describing her vision, Lou says, “I’m interested in the point at which perfectionism breaks down to reveal the humanity underneath a repetitive process. Things done slowly, things done well, and how things go wrong along the way—that’s my primary interest.”
Lou’s first show with Lehmann Maupin is scheduled for Hong Kong in 2017.
Liza Lou (b. 1969, New York) has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Lou’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Norway; Fundacio Joan Miró, Barcelona; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; Aspen Art Museum; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; and the Neuberger Museum of Art, New York. Her work has also been featured internationally at the 5th Biennale de Lyon d'art Contemporain, France; Taipei Biennial; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; and ARS 01, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki. The artist’s work is also in many prominent museum collections, including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Brant Foundation, The Hammer Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2005, Lou moved to South Africa, where she established a studio with Zulu bead workers. Lou is the recipient of a 2013 Anonymous Was A Woman Award and in 2002 she received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. The artist is based between Los Angeles and KwaZulu-Natal.
