Liza Lou | "ixube" | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac | Paris | 2014
In October 2014, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac was pleased to announce the third solo exhibition with the gallery of American artist, Liza Lou.
For this exhibition Lou, who divides her time between studios in Los Angeles and the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, explores the surface commonly accepted as the ground for art – the canvas – making it into the subject of the work. At first glance, the 12 works in this exhibition appear to be paintings, and indeed they follow the prescription for painting in that they are woven material stretched across stretcher frames. On closer examination however color and gesture do not exist on the surface but are imbedded into the very structure of the canvas itself, each work comprising of millions of glass beads woven together to create one unified whole.
Ixube in isiZulu means random, and it is from this premise that the artist developed this current body of work. In her Durban studio, Lou blends large vats of glass beads in a process not unlike blending paint and then packages and distributes hundreds of grams of each blend to the members of her Durban collective to be woven into long strips. The instructions from Lou contain the request that no discernible pattern be made in the weaving. After several months, the strips are returned to Lou’s studio from the townships of KwaZulu-Natal, and inevitably reveal unintended subtle preferences in the weaving and color choices of the individual women. The artist then edits and assembles the individual strips to create a single unified field which is then woven and stretched across steel stretcher bars.
The resulting works display a tsunami of color and random pattern, with surfaces that can’t be fully known or comprehended in a single viewing. From randomly sequenced material, Lou composes structured and rhythmic works, images that are pixelated but also loosely impressionistic. Within a slow and methodical discipline, chaos and structure coexist. Lou’s exploration of process has resulted in minimal, contemplative works, which are mediations on their own making and on the random and unexpected possibility of beauty.
More: http://ropac.net/exhibition/ixube
Video by Nikolai Saoulski
Who You Art for Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac © 2014