Лиза Лу
לייזה לו
汪明荃楼

Security Fence

source: highlike

Work: Security Fence, 2005
Glass beads on steel and razor wire
132 x 156 x 156 inches (335.3 x 396.2 x 396.2 cm).
Photographer: Stephen White
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source: a-ncouk

The White Cube is one of those cleverly designed spaces that suck you in. No sooner was I through the door, than I seemed to find myself standing in front of Security Fence, perhaps the most compelling of Lisa Lou’s exhibits for her solo exhibition at this gallery. This is seductive work. Lou’s dully glinting metal mesh fence, complete with razor-wire, is just as it says: a small section of security fence built into an open-topped cage. Its seduction comes from the fact that the whole thing – indeed, every piece of work in this exhibition – is covered in tiny beads; everything, even the nuts and bolts, and the razors on the razor-wire.
As someone who treads an uneasy path between craft and fine art in the world of contemporary glass, I’ve trained myself to hold firm against the seductive wiles of the material. I’m afraid I have to admit, though, that this work defeated me. I couldn’t help but get as close as possible, and try to work out how on earth it had been done. I couldn’t help but count up the hours it must have taken to do it. I felt that I let myself down.
There’s lots to say about Lou – that her figures such as Homeostasis and Seer somehow don’t do the same thing, or have the same quiet power, as the pieces such as Cell and Security Fence which use the vocabulary of absence most effectively. About the religious imagery of The Vessel and its relation to her fundamentalist Christian upbringing. About the wit and strangeness of the noose and bucket in Stairway to Heaven. But it is hard not to be bowled over by the beads. If Lou is making a comment on the sometimes contrived separation of fine art and craft, then it’s a very adept one. Artists such as Tony Cragg and Louise Bourgeois use glass successfully, but it doesn’t cut so close to the craft/art line. With Lou’s work, you simply can’t help but consider the making. I did feel, however, that this pared down work was rather dominated by the process. Earlier work by Lou (not shown in this exhibition) – a beaded, full sized kitchen and backyard – seem more balanced. Still, it is rare, and somehow refreshing, to come across someone exploring making and concept in glass so successfully in the contemporary art world. It’s a little disturbing, very weird, visually expressive and conceptually challenging. We could do with more of this.
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source: scpt209

Liza Lou is an American artist who works in Africa and Los Angeles. She’s been part of exhibitions since 1994 and is also a writer. She is best known for working with small beads to complete her works. Liza Lou’s sculptures and environments thrive on the tension between the apparent impossibility of their construction, the seductive beauty of their surfaces and the often sinister implications of their subject matter. Over the past several years, while living and working in South Africa, Liza Lou has developed a body of work based upon further ideas of confinement and protection. Security Fence (2005) is a full-scale, silver beaded enclosure of chain-link and razor wire that can neither be entered nor exited.Her first major work was completed in 1995 and took four years to create. “Kitchen” is a 168-square foot to-scale and fully equipped replica of a kitchen covered in tiny beads. It’s bright, bold and colorful and takes an ordinary kitchen and turns it into an extraordinary art piece.
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source: forblabla

Лиза Лу (Liza Lou) родилась в 1969 году в Нью-Йорке.

Она стала известной, благодаря своей инсталляции «Кухня». Представленная в 1996 году в Нью-Йоркском музее современного искусства скульптура изображала интерьер современной типично американской кухни в натуральную величину, где все поверхности были покрыты миллионами стеклянных бусинок. Чтобы создать эту работу, Лиза потратила пять лет.

Заявив о своей творческой манере широкой публике, художница верна выбранной технике до сих пор. В галереях Америки, Европы, Японии регулярно выставляются скульптурные инсталляции из бисера и стекляруса, в которых Лиза Лу затрагивает актуальные социальные и политические темы, такие как права женщин или расовая справедливость.