A comprehensive new monograph on the critically-acclaimed work of Liza Lou, whose practice considers themes of community, labor, craft, and materiality. Published by Rizzoli Electa.
The publication features contributions by Glenn Adamson, writer and curator; Julia Bryan-Wilson, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Cathleen Chaffee, Chief Curator of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Elisabeth Sherman, Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and a conversation between Liza Lou and renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems.
Liza Lou first gained attention in 1996 when her room-sized sculpture Kitchen was shown at the New Museum in New York. Representing five years of individual labor, this groundbreaking work subverted standards of art by introducing glass beads as a fine art material. The project blurred the rigid boundary between fine art and craft, and established Lou's long-standing exploration of materiality, process, and beauty. Working within a craft métier has led the artist to work in a variety of socially engaged settings, from community groups in Los Angeles, to a collective she founded in Durban, South Africa. Over the past fifteen years, Lou has focused on a poetic approach to abstraction as a way to highlight the process underlying her work.
In this comprehensive volume that considers the entirety of Lou’s singular vision, curators, art historians, and artists offer important perspectives on the breadth of the work.
Hardcover. 296 pages. Trim size: 9 x 11 3/4 inches. ISBN: 978-0-8478-7075-2
