The gallery's second New York location opened with Lou's first solo exhibit in the city in a decade.
Artist Liza Lou didn’t have to look far to find the inspiration for her latest solo show, “Classification and Nomenclature of Clouds.”
“I noticed I was always looking up,” says Lou. “And sometimes when you have an obsession, you think it’s not related to your work; it’s just something you’re really interested in. So I didn’t think, oh, this is my next project.”
The Los Angeles-based artist’s exhibition is kicking off the second Lehmann Maupin gallery space in Manhattan on West 24th Street, designed by Peter Marino. The show marks Lou’s first solo New York show in a decade, and is a continuation of the artist’s exploration of beads as a fine-art material. A subsequent exhibition of her other bead-based work is displayed in a side room of Lehmann Maupin on West 22nd Street.
“Working with glass beads as a primary art material for so many years, I’m always surprised that the material keeps on asking for something that I didn’t know it was asking for,” she says of her process. “When I start a new project, it’s never a given that I’ll work with beads,” she continues. “Every single time, I end up getting inspired again by this material — it just keeps having more depth for me, and more that could happen with it. I wouldn’t choose to work with beads if I had a choice: it’s really difficult, they take a really long time to work with, they’re superexpensive, they require your life to change in a dramatic way.”
Lou also recently relocated back to L.A. after spending a decade in South Africa, where she established a studio with local beadwork artisans. She continues to work in collaboration with her studio, which helps her create the beaded canvases on which she painted for her latest work, which explores the symbolism of looking up and reflects upon the dramatic cloud patterns visible in Durban, South Africa versus L.A. “I just found myself more and more [that] I’d be in a fraught situation in an urban environment, and you can just look up,” she says. “If you look up, there’s a sense of aspiration to doing that. So I began to paint [clouds] onto these woven clothes,” she explains. “It has all of this deep resonance, so to paint clouds, something that’s very ethereal, on top of something that’s really so material…it just led to this whole exploration around painting and sculpture and dissolving these boundaries around what makes a painting and what makes a sculpture. And then I started to take out my hammer and smash the beads off of the thread.”
The show includes a video installation, which represents a new medium for Lou: singing. She and her studio in South Africa would sing gospel songs as they worked together around a table, and after moving back to L.A. she decided to integrate the practice into her publicly exhibited work. “Coming back to L.A and being alone, I suddenly noticed that I do that, and I’ve probably been doing it for 20 years — I just noticed that I do it because I was suddenly really alone,” she says of singing while creating.
She describes the video, which features her singing as she draws, as a soundtrack of her working life; certain days she draws in the “key of C,” others in the “key of E.” The piece also connects her back to her studio, as they work together from afar.
“For many years, my gesture was sort of subsumed in the gesture of the entire studio team. We would be weaving and sewing together, but you wouldn’t see my own signature on it…my own hand was part of the whole tsunami of labor,” she says. Back in L.A., Lou began taking the woven clothes and tracing over each bead. “I wanted to stay with my team. I wanted to say, ‘I see you,’ I’m here, I’m still with you, we’re together still; holding hands across the miles.”
Robert Snodgrass bagged a brace as Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak&apos;s Aston Villa made it two wins in three days after thrashing Bailey Wright&apos;s promotion hopefuls Bristol City 5-0.
Scott Hogan opened the scoring midway through the first half for Villa, who defeated Middlesbrough on Saturday, before Snodgrass struck in the 34th minute and then again on the hour to leave the Robins reeling.
City could have moved up to second in the standings with a win but they slip a place to fourth after shipping two more goals, with substitute Birkir Bjarnason (72) and Conor Hourihane (85) completing the rout as Villa moved up to fifth.
Both Socceroos played a full 90 minutes on Monday, as Villa moved into one of the promotion playoff berths.
Earlier, Leon Clarke denied Derby the chance to eat into Championship leaders Wolves&apos; advantage as Sheffield United claimed a point at Pride Park.
Matej Vydra had fired the home side into a 24th-minute lead from the penalty spot after George Baldock had fouled Johnny Russell, but Clarke&apos;s header 12 minutes after the restart secured a 1-1 draw and cost the second-placed Rams two precious points.
Fourth-placed Cardiff were also unable to defend a lead and suffered a fourth defeat in a row as they went down 2-1 at lowly QPR.
Joe Ralls&apos; 54th-minute spot-kick handed the visitors the lead, but Matt Smith levelled within eight minutes to set the stage for debutant Paul Smyth to win it with 18 minutes remaining.
Socceroos midfielder Massimo Luongo was lively throughout, helping to set up a chance for Smyth, who later returned the favour for the Australian.
It proved a frustrating afternoon too for Leeds, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest at Elland Road as they failed to bounce back from Saturday&apos;s defeat at bottom-of-the-table Birmingham.
Middlesbrough were the big winners as they climbed to within a point of the play-off places courtesy of new manager Tony Pulis&apos; first victory in a five-goal thriller at Preston.
Sheffield Wednesday&apos;s dreadful run of form continued as they lost for the fifth time in six games 3-0 at home to struggling Burton.
There was joy for Bolton, who eased themselves out of the bottom three with a 1-0 victory over Hull with Gary Madine&apos;s first-half free-kick doing the damage.
Sunderland&apos;s plight deepened as they slipped back into the drop zone after a 1-0 home defeat by Barnsley while James Maddison was Norwich&apos;s match-winner as they came from behind to see off Millwall 2-1 at Carrow Road.