Liza Lou: Difference between revisions

{{blpBLP sources|date=July 2019}}

| awards = {{awd|[[MacArthur Fellows Program]]|2002|}}{{awd|[[Anonymous Was A Woman Award]]|2013|}}

'''Liza Lou''' (born 1969) is an [[United States|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.<ref name="forbes1015" /> She currently has a nomadic practice, working mostly outdoors in the Mojave Desert in southern California.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2021-08-24|title=In the studio with… Liza Lou|url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/in-the-studio-with-liza-lou/|access-date=2021-09-07|website=Apollo Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> Lou's work is grounded in domestic [[craft]] and intersects with the larger [[social economy]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Ollman|first=Leah|last2=Ollman|first2=Leah|date=2018-11-01|title=Liza Lou|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/liza-lou-62572/|access-date=2021-09-13|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

Lou's early beaded installations were preceded by [[Feminist art|1970's feminist arti]]<nowiki/>sts such as [[Judy Chicago]] and [[Miriam Schapiro|Miriam Shapiro]].<ref name=":5" /> The 70's [[Pattern and Decoration|pattern and decoration]] [[Feminist art movement in the United States|feminist art movement]] emerged as a political statement challenging a male domination of what is included in the visual arts canon.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Keats|first=Jonathon|title=A Blockbuster Whitney Exhibit Shows How Feminists Reshaped The Macho Standards Of Art|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/2021/02/19/a-blockbuster-whitney-exhibit-shows-how-women-crafted-their-way-into-art-museums--and-how-feminists-recrafted-the-macho-standards-of-art/|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":7" />

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. <ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-25|title=Beading Off: Artist Liza Lou Talks New Show at Lehmann Maupin|url=https://hashtaglegend.com/culture/beading-artist-liza-lou-talks-new-show-lehmann-maupin/|access-date=2021-09-08|website=Hashtag Legend|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In 2005, Lou established a studio in [[Durban|Durban, South Africa]], a complement to her studio in Los Angeles.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Ollman|first=Leah|last2=Ollman|first2=Leah|date=2018-11-01|title=Liza Lou|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/liza-lou-62572/|access-date=2021-09-08|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref> Durban is the largest city in the province [[KwaZulu-Natal]]. Lou reached out to an organization called [[Aid to Artisans]] with an idea that her bead practice could provide income in high crises communities.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|last=Woodcock|first=Victoria|date=2021-09-25|title=Liza Lou’s ‘beautiful little bunker’ in Joshua Tree|work=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/1ddc7d3c-ba16-46f2-9085-c696ea056cfc|access-date=2021-09-28}}</ref> 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.<ref name="forbes1015" /> In Durban, Lou created many sculptures and paintings working "elbow-to-elbow" with 50 highly skilled South African Zulu beadworkers.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Christopher Bagley|date=Sep 2008|title=Liza Lou|url=http://www.wmagazine.com/culture/art-and-design/2008/09/liza_lou/|url-status=dead|access-date=24 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302164128/http://www.wmagazine.com/culture/art-and-design/2008/09/liza_lou|archive-date=2 March 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wilkinson|first=Isabel|date=2016-05-12|title=One Artist’s Surprising, Powerful New Subject: 1,000 Dishcloths|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/t-magazine/art/liza-lou-waves-dishcloth-art-south-africa.html|access-date=2021-09-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|title=Liza Lou|url=https://the-talks.com/interview/liza-lou/|access-date=2021-09-09|website=The Talks|language=en-US}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":7" /> 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."<ref>{{Cite web|title=ArtAsiaPacific: In Collaboration Interview With Liza Lou|url=http://www.artasiapacific.com/Blog/InCollaborationInterviewWithLizaLou|access-date=2021-09-10|website=www.artasiapacific.com}}</ref>

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.<ref name="forbes1015" /> Lou's current practice often finds her working outdoors in the solitude of the Mojave desert.<ref name=":0" /> 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. <ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4" />

However, when the 2020 Pandemic required isolation and social distancing, Lou found enforced solitude onerous. She took to instagramInstagram to invite the public to join her a in communal project called "[https://www.apartogether.com/ ''Apartogether."],'' Louin 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."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sheets|first=Hilarie M.|date=2020-03-26|title=Weaving a Way Out of Isolation|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/arts/design/liza-lou.html|access-date=2021-09-17|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> LouShe hosted artist talks and "sew-in" sessions via zoom to engage participants. <ref>{{Cite web|last=Lou|first=Liza|last2=Lou|first2=Liza|date=2020-07-10|title=Liza Lou on Building Community During Coronavirus|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/interviews/liza-lou-building-community-during-coronavirus-interview-1202693995/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

Lou single-handedly created this career launching sculpture;installation throughout the first decade of her 20's.<ref name=":1" /> ''Kitchen'' is a 168-square-foot mosaiced fully furnished kitchen with millions of shimmering glass beads.<ref name=":1" /> The installation took her five years "and a few pair of tweezers" to complete. Components such as cereal flakes were fashioned with [[Papier-mâché|paper mache]] then coated with glue and glass beads.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2018-09-09|title=Artist Liza Lou on the teamwork behind her beadwork|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/art/liza-lou-lehmann-maupin|access-date=2021-09-17|website=Wallpaper*}}</ref> ''Kitchen'' is a statement on the invisible yet powerful value of women's labor.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=2018-09-03|title=Beads, Labor and Sexy Feminism: Liza Lou|url=https://tlmagazine.com/liza-lou/|access-date=2021-09-16|website=TLmagazine|language=en-US}}</ref> The 168-square-foot installation, ''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."'<ref name=":7" /> Lou'sThe "behemoth" K''itchen''work was first shown in part atas the''Kitchenette'' artin gallery1994 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]].<ref name=":1" /> ''Kitchen'' was first exhibited in it'sits entirety at the New Museum in a 1996 group exhibition called "A Labor of Love." The workexperimental hasgroup sinceshow included 50 artists whose practice embraced labor-intensive process or craft in unique ways. Tucker assured Lou that her curatorial intention was travelednot to exhibitionsreinforce acrossstereotypes but to challenge "cherished hierarchies" by exhibiting work that pushed the worldboundaries of what makes a work "art."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tucker|first=Marsha|title=A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World}}</ref> ''Kitchen'' continues to inspire conversations about craft, art, and feminism.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019|url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/making-knowing|access-date=2021-09-21|website=whitney.org|language=en}}</ref> ''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."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019|url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/making-knowing|access-date=2021-09-29|website=whitney.org|language=en}}</ref> After viewing the exhibition Garage Magazine journalist Sophie Kemp expounds,wrote that "''Kitchen'' is a deeply campy and seductive piece of feminist art."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kemp|first=Sophie|date=2020-03-01|title=Is There Anything More Evocative Of Women's Work Than a Beaded Kitchen?|url=https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/4agq5n/is-there-anything-more-evocative-of-womens-work-than-a-beaded-kitchen|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Garage|language=en}}</ref> ''Kitchen'' is in the permanent collection of the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite web|title=Liza Lou: Kitchen, 1991-95|url=http://collection.whitney.org/object/34855|access-date=5 March 2015|website=Whitney Museum of American Art|publisher=Whitney Museum of American Art}}</ref>

''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 brakebreak her solitary practice by inviting volunteers from the public to help.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Giles|first=Oliver|title=Artist Liza Lou On Beadwork, Teamwork And Her New Exhibitions In Asia|url=https://www.tatlerasia.com/culture/arts/liza-lou-west-bund|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Tatler Asia|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Back Yard by Liza Lou|url=https://www.fondationcartier.com/en/collection/artworks/back-yard|access-date=2021-09-07|website=Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain|language=en}}</ref>

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."<ref name="glassapp" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=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.}}</ref> This work was acquired by the [[Corning Museum of Glass]] in 2014. <ref>{{Citation|title=An Interview with Liza Lou|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-4extKxnXY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/r-4extKxnXY |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-09-14}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

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 [https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/archive/21st-biennale-of-sydney/ 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."<ref name=":5" /> 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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=2018-09-10|title='My Whole Life Has Been Following This Single Material': How Liza Lou's Obsession With Beads Transformed a Village in Africa|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/liza-lou-clouds-lehmann-maupin-1345115|access-date=2021-09-16|website=Artnet News|language=en-US}}</ref> Lou describes this method as evolving out of exploring the question, 'what can the beads do, that paint can't do.'<ref name=":8" /> ''The Clouds'' is notable in that it pushes the boundaries between painting and sculpture.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rathe|first=Adam|date=2018-08-30|title=The Creative Questionnaire: Liza Lou|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a22854571/liza-lou-interview/|access-date=2021-09-16|website=Town & Country|language=en-US}}</ref>

* 1996: ''Liza Lou, ''[[Capp Street Project|Capp Street Projects]]s, San Francisco, CA

* 1996: ''Kitchen, ''[[Minneapolis Institute of Art|Minneapolis Institute of Arts]]s'', ''Minneapolis, MN

*2015: Color Field and Solid Grey, [[Neuberger Museum of Art]], Westchester, New York, NY<ref name="forbes1015">Lehrer, Adam, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamlehrer/2015/10/21/artist-liza-lou-drapes-the-floor-of-the-neuberger-museuBeads "]{{dead link|date=January 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''Forbes'', October 21, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-08.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Hodara|first=Susan|date=2016-01-02|title=Liza Lou’s Handmade Sea of Sparkling Glass|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/nyregion/liza-lous-handmade-sea-of-sparkling-glass.html|access-date=2021-09-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

* [http://lizalou.com/ Official site]