Liza Lou is best known for her large-scale sculptures and environments created from countless glass beads that are painstakingly woven together to create a unified whole. Her work is characterised by a tension between their seductive, even magical, materiality and the intensive labour involved in their creation, which manifests as both process and subject. As Lou describes, 'Beads have a lot of connotations before you even make anything with them – around beauty, preciousness, and even labour. They're made with a lot of care; they have their own value.' She blurs the boundaries between fine art and craft, while inviting viewers to experience her works at both the level of visual wonder and critical analysis, highlighting questions regarding the valorisation of labour and its links to gender and the artist's own identity.
Her proximity to craftwork has led Lou to work in a variety of socially engaged environments, including beadwork collectives in Durban, South Africa and Mumbai, India, as well as community groups in Los Angeles and a women's prison in Belém, Brazil. The artist explains: 'I became very interested in the idea of a collective labour, of solidarity with women and solidarity in every stitch […] I want our work together to be a record of process. It's work about work.' The seriality and rigour of Minimalism are present in these works, particularly in her recent monochrome beaded canvases, but their formalism is complicated by the handmade aesthetic. The beauty and humanity of her works lie in their small flaws and subtle variations, which become reliquaries of the time and labour involved in their creation.
Born in New York in 1969, Lou lives and works in Los Angeles. She first came to prominence in 1996, when her room-sized beaded sculpture Kitchen was shown at the New Museum in New York. This groundbreaking work, now in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum, represented 5 years of solitary labour and established the principles of materiality and social consciousness that would come to define her practice. In 2005, she established a studio in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where she collaborates with Zulu women who are skilled in the craft of traditional beadwork. More recently, she founded the Apartogether community art project, as a way of fostering connection and creativity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lou's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (1998); Bass Museum of Art, Miami and Aspen Art Museum (1998); Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2002); Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo (2002); Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia (2011); Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2013); and the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York (2015). She is the recipient of a 2013 Anonymous was a Woman Award and is also a MacArthur Fellow (2002).
i see you, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais, France
2021
Desire Lines, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, London, UK
Both Sides, Now, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, USA
2019
Liza Lou: The River and the Raft, Lehmann Maupin Gallery & Songwon Art Center, Seoul, South Korea
2018
Liza Lou: Classification and Nomenclature of Clouds, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2017
Liza Lou: ingxube, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Hong Kong
2016
The Waves, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Blue Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2015
Liza Lou: Gather (One Million), Wichita Museum of Art, Witchita, KS, USA
Color Field and Solid Grey, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY, USA
2014
Canvas, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
ixube, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Solid/Divide, White Cube Bermondsey, London, UK
2013
Liza Lou: Color Field, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, USA
2012
Liza Lou, White Cube Hoxton Square, London, UK
2011
Let the Light In, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA, USA
Liza Lou, L&M Arts Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2010
American Idol, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Liza Lou Drawings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2008
Liza Lou, L&M Arts, New York, NY, USA
Liza Lou, Maximum Security, Lever House, New York, NY, USA
2006
Liza Lou, White Cube, London, UK
2004
The Damned, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2002
Testimony, Deitch Projects, New York, NY, USA
Liza Lou, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
Leaves of Glass, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway
2001
Liza Lou II, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL, USA
Trailer, Southeastern Contemporary Art Center, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
2000
American Presidents 1-43, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution of American Art, Washington D.C.
Liza Lou, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, USA
1999
American Glamorama, Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall, New York, NY, USA
Kitchen, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
American Presidents, Contemporary Arts Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Kitchen, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY, USA
1998
Liza Lou, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL, USA; Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, USA
Liza Lou, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
Kitchen and Back Yard, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, USA
Back Yard, Fundacio Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Portrait Gallery, P.P.O.W., New York, NY, USA
Most Admired Disorder, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1997
Liza Lou: American Presidents 1-42, Hudson River Museum of Westchester, Yonkers, NY,; California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, CA,; Quint Gallery, La Jolla, CA, USA
1996
Kitchen, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Forty-two American Presidents, Quint Gallery, La Jolla, CA, USA
Liza Lou, Capp Street Project, San Francisco, CA, USA
Liza Lou, Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI, USA
Liza Lou, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA, USA
1995
Socks and Underwear, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY, USA
1994
Kitchenette, Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA
2025
The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth, Chatsworth House, Bakewell, UK
2022
Grow. The Tree in Art, Lower Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
2019
Making Knowing: Craft in Art. 1950-2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Less Is a Bore: Maximalist Art & Design, ICA Boston | Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA
Lexicon, The Language of Gesture in 25 Years at Kemper Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
Less is More, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
We the People: New Art from the Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
Comeback, Kunsthistorische Renaissance in der Gegenwartskunst, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
2018
SUPERPOSITION & Engagement, 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Memory Palace, White Cube, Mason's Yard, London, UK
Gold, Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
Pulling at Threads, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
Or, Mucem, Marseille, France
2017
Beyond Boundaries: Feminine Forms, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA
All Things Being Equal, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Screens: Virtual Material, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, USA
No Place Like Home, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Idols and Impossible Structures: New Prints, International Print Center, New York, NY, USA
2016
Women’s Work, National Gallery, Iziko Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Passing Through Minnesota, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Home Land Security, For-Site Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA
Material Considerations, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
2015
Painting @ the Very Edge of Art, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Storrs, CT, USA
Edge of Silence, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Patterns of Abstraction, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
ENDLESS, Keitelman Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Other People’s Memories, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2014
Stories of Espai 10 and Espai 13, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Surfacing On, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Sleight of Hand: Painting and Illusion, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
2013
30 Years, Salzburg Villa Kast and Halle, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg
Disaster - The End of Days, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris-Pantin
Turn off the Sun: Selections from la Colección Jumex, Art Museum, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
The C of O Show, Kresge Gallery, Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts, Mahwah, NJ, USA
La Belle est la Bête, L’Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
2012
Lightness?, Maison particulière, Brussels, Belgium
Advance/Notice, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Artist Talk, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, USA
Strange Beauty : Baroque Sensibilities in Contemporary Art, I.D.E.A Space, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Demo, L&M Arts, Venice, CA, USA
The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2011
Memories of the Future, The Olbricht’s Collection, cur. Wolfgang Schoppmann, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
Strange Beauty: Baroque Sensibilities in Contemporary Art, I.D.E.A Space, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, USA
January White Sale, Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2010
Now What?, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
The Artist's Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Make Craft, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, cur. Jeff Koons, New Museum, New York, NY, USA
Kupferstichkabinett: Between Thought and Action, White Cube, London, UK
19th Century and Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
Lust for Life, Dance of Death, Olbricht Collection, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
2009
Diana und Actaeon: Der Verbotene Blick Auf Die Nacktheit, Musuem Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
2008
Bizarre Perfection, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
In the Land of Retinal Delights, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA, USA
Innovations In The Third Dimension: Sculpture Of Our Time, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, USA
2007
The Contemporary Self-Portrait, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
The Complexity of the Simple, L&M Arts, New York, NY, USA
Rockers Island—Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
The Death Instinct, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel
2006
Transitional Objects: Contemporary Still Life, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA
Collection of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Metropolitan Kiba Park, Tokyo, Japan
2005
Translation, Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Over + Over: Passion for Process, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, USA; Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, USA
2004
Monument to Now, Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
Splat, Boom, Pow: Cartoons in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA; Wexner Center for the Arts, OH, USA
Domestic Odyssey, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
2003
Undomesticated Interiors, Smith College Art Museum, Brown Fine Arts Center, Northhampton, MA, USA
Perpetual Bliss, Galerie Thaddaeaus Ropac, Paris, France
Skulptur03, Max Gandolph-BIbliothek, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Shine, Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2002
Melodrama, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Palacio de los Condes de Gabia/Centro Jose Guerrero, Granada, Spain; Museo de Arte Contemporànea de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Bingo, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Fusion Cuisine, Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
2001
Un Art Populaire, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
Give and Take, organized by Serpentine Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
ARS 01, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Art Through the Eye of the Needle, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway
2000
Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, USA; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Sharing Exoticism, Biennale de Lyon d'art Contemporain, Lyon, France
Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1999
First Annual Post-Impeachment Show, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
1998
Site Specific, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, USA
1996
A Labor of Love, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, USA
Art for the New Millennium, The Fabric Workshop/Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Subversive Domesticity, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS, USA
An Embarrassment of the Riches, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA, USA
France
Fondation Cartier Pour I’art Contemporain, Paris
Germany
Thomas Olbricht Collection, me Collectors Room, Berlin
Greece
Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens
Iran
Honart Museum, Tehran
Italy
François Pinault Foundation, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Mexico
La Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico City
Netherlands
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
Spain
Fundación Privada Sorigué, Lleida
USA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
De Young Museum/Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Hill Foundation, New York, NY
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2013
Anonymous Was a Woman Artist Award
2002
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
1996
Virginia Groot Foundation Award