Lee Lozano's 'Strike' at Pinacoteca Agnelli Examines Self-Annihilation

The exhibition 'Strike' at Turin's Pinacoteca Agnelli, curated by new director Sarah Cosulich, explores Lee Lozano's career through her conceptual 'General Strike Piece' (1969) and earlier works. Lozano's piece declared her withdrawal from the New York artworld around age 40, part of her 'Language Pieces' that prescribed actions like masturbating or staying high. The show juxtaposes her figurative drawings (1959–64) of fragmented anatomies with the cartoonish 'Pun' series (1962) and abstract 'Tools' paintings (1962–64), culminating in the minimalist 'All verbs' series (1964–65) such as 'Clamp', 'Crook', and 'Swap'. Lozano's practice mirrored her life, progressively subtracting until her disappearance; she changed her name from Lenore to Lee to E and was buried under an unmarked tombstone in 1999. The exhibition runs through 23 July.