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Tue, Aug 22, 2006
Comprehensive Catalogue of Lawler’s Work to Accompany Exhibition
Columbus, OH—This fall, the Wexner Center presents Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back), the first U.S. museum exhibition of the work of American artist Louise Lawler. Often referred to as an “artist’s artist,” Lawler is considered one of the most significant visual artists of the past three decades. Since the 1970s, Lawler has tracked how the meaning of artworks changes radically in different contexts as they pass through museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, and collectors’ homes.
While Lawler is best known for her photography, the exhibition also pays special attention to the objects she makes—such as etched drinking glasses and paperweights (which will be in the show)—as an inherent part of her witty and thought-provoking art. This survey exhibition, organized by the Wexner Center and on view September 16– December 31, 2006, covers her earliest work in the 1970s to the present. It will feature about 60 pieces, including five new photographs taken at the Wexner Center during the installation and opening of Part Object Part Sculpture in the fall of 2005.
“A major exhibition in the U.S. devoted to Louise Lawler’s influential, always witty work is long overdue,” says curator Helen Molesworth. “Since the 1970s, she has trained her acute photographic lens on the spaces of art—museums, galleries, auction houses, and private homes—showing us, often with subtle humor, the powerful way in which display and context come to shape art’s various meanings.”
This is the exclusive venue for this exhibition. The catalogue, published by the Wexner Center, designed by 2 x 4, and distributed by MIT Press, features a foreword by Director Sherri Geldin, and essays by Molesworth, independent scholar Rosalyn Deutsche, and Ann Goldstein, senior curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The book documents Lawler’s photographic works and her objects.
In addition to this exhibition, which will fill about half of the Wexner Center’s gallery spaces, Lawler will also create a project for the café wall in the center’s lower lobby. Two of Lawler’s photographs will be on view as part of an accompanying exhibition, Shiny (one of the works comments on another artist in Shiny: Jeff Koons).
Lawler will give a lecture about her work November 8 at 4:30 pm (admission is free). Following Lawler’s talk, artist Andrea Fraser will perform May I Help You? in the galleries. In addition, Molesworth will lead a tour of the exhibition November 3 at 1 pm (admission is free).
LOUISE LAWLER
Louise Lawler has been essential in creating an expanded field for photography. She became central in the development of new theories of representation and remains indelible within the field of institutional critique. Lawler’s work has always been trenchant and witty in its sustained commitment to a feminist vision of art, art history, and contemporary art practice, from her early sound work Birdcalls (in which she transforms the names of famous male artists into bird song) to her long- held interest in the figure of the female nude. The self-effacing nature of Lawler’s practice (she is forever taking photographs of other artists’ work), her continual suspicion about notions of authorship (e.g., via her numerous collaborations with other artists), and her sly humor with regards to standard museological conventions have made her an elusive candidate for a major museum exhibition. Throughout the 1990s, she remained a powerful influence on an emerging generation of artists, critics, and curators.
THE CURATOR
Helen Molesworth joined the Wexner Center as chief curator of exhibitions in November 2002. She curated the 2005 exhibition Part Object Part Sculpture, which Artforum called “a brilliant success.” Molesworth has also curated the video art exhibition Image Stream and the touring shows Landscape Confection and Work Ethic for the Wexner Center Galleries at The Belmont Building. Prior to joining the Wexner Center, she served as curator of contemporary art at The Baltimore Museum of Art, and her writings have appeared in Art Journal, Frieze, and October.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
This exhibition is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts.
It is presented with support from the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.
Accommodations are provided by The Blackwell Inn.
The preferred airline for this exhibition is American Airlines/American Eagle.
VISITOR INFORMATION THE EXHIBITION: Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back) is the first U.S. museum survey of the work of American artist Louise Lawler.
DATES: September 16–December 31. Also on view: Shiny and Frank Stella 1958.
OPENING: September 15 (7–9 pm).
LOCATION: Wexner Center for the Arts (Galleries B & C), 1871 North High Street at 15th Avenue at The Ohio State University. Parking in Ohio Union Garage just south.
GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday–Wednesday and Sunday 11 am–6 pm; Thursday–Saturday 11 am–8 pm. The galleries are closed on Monday.
WALK-IN TOURS: Thursdays at 6 pm & Saturdays at 2 pm.
ADMISSION: Free. PUBLIC INFORMATION: wexarts.org or 614 292-3535
