Liza Lou's FAQ exhibition challenges painting with beads and oil
Liza Lou's new exhibition 'FAQ' at a gallery presents works combining glass beads and oil paint on canvas, examining the heroics of mid-century abstraction. Lou uses beads to denaturalize the spontaneity of brushstrokes, juxtaposing painted drips with meticulous beadwork. She translates fluid pigment into cell-like color particles, creating a tension between 'absolute control and total abandon.' The exhibition title references fundamental questions about art that Lou has explored for decades, such as 'When is a painting not a painting?'
Key facts
- Liza Lou combines glass beads and oil paint on canvas in new works
- The exhibition is titled 'FAQ'
- Lou examines the heroics of the painted gesture and mid-century abstraction
- She juxtaposes painted drips and spatters with painstaking beadwork
- Lou describes the process as a push and pull between 'absolute control and total abandon'
- Beads have been Lou's signature unit of art making for over three decades
- The exhibition proposes fundamental questions about the nature of art
- One question posed is 'When is a painting not a painting?'
Entities
Artists
- Liza Lou