Cover Girl

The December issue of the widely read national magazine Art in America features a shocking red cover and a seven-page feature story on Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back), the first U.S. museum survey of the work of Louise Lawler that's now on view in our galleries. (That cover image, by the way, is a Lawler photograph of an Andy Warhol "silver cloud"; both can be seen now in our galleries.) The exhibition, which covers more than three decades of Lawler's work—mostly photographs of art in various contexts, but also including an audio piece and Lawler's objects, all commenting on the art world—is described as "vital" by writer Kirsten Swenson "because it is not about the past but about the present"; the pieces in the show are called "conceptually and visually elegant," and much of the work is "significantly altered by being shown at the Wexner Center, which itself becomes a primary subject." Swenson also notes the political aspects of the work, including Lawler's tear-off tabs near one piece that send visitors to a web site about Iraq. "Since Lawler's work is predicated on awareness of place and audience, it matters to her that Ohio's political landscape is toxic," she notes. Swenson also locates the connective fibers among Twice Untitled, Shiny and Frank Stella 1958 (the other two shows on view now). The issue is on newsstands (and in the Wexner Center Store) now—or come to our reading lounge in the galleries and peruse an issue after seeing the show. It's on view through December 31.