I’m interested in creating a distinct language over time and in the expressive potential of objects. I believe that the most inspiring artists have a sense of the long haul and allow their work change as needed. With this in mind, I try to follow an internal logic as honestly as possible, to think through material, color, surface and scale; and to let one work perpetuate and relate to the next. This may best be described as a literary style of art-making; conversational, transformative, and developed within malleable, self-defined limits.
Artist Statement
IMAGES 1-4
These first images show two human-scale sculptures that are part of a larger series of rectangular columns now in progress. The works are made of wood and painted with many layers of sanded acrylic, transforming the surface into something more akin to plaster, plastic, or clay. While the size, shape, and finish are in common, the demeanor and personality of each work is distinct. Not Yet Titled (Eggs) is animated by shallow yellow ovals spotting the otherwise smooth, chalky surface while Not Yet Titled (Pinstripes) has a more formal presence as a series of black gutters run up along each side, like the seams of a stocking or the pinstripes of a suit. The additional columns in progress vary greatly, each having carved irregular surfaces and clashing colors palettes.
IMAGES 5-8
From 2011 to the present, I’ve been working on a series of hanging wall sculptures derived from line drawings. These works conflate drawing, painting and sculpture and have a certain physical autonomy or material ambiguity that makes them hard to categorize. The sculptures have a mediative, hovering sensibility that is rather optical; color often casts onto the wall or at times a brightly painted trim will flatten the work back into a line drawing. This series is rooted in language, an expanding alphabet of symbols and forms. Many of the works also connote domestic tools like tweezers, tongs, ribbons or magnets.
IMAGES 9-14
In 2012, I presented a series of works titled Acts of Intermission, specifically made for the Vault Gallery at The Hammer Museum and shown as part of their group exhibition, Made in L.A. 2012. Inspired by the shape and acoustics of the gallery, I created works that were in a state of intermission, objects in pause. I like thinking of artworks as arriving in a room, finding an essential place, relating to each other and the space that exists around them. The shape of a room or the trim that goes around a ceiling helps me to imagine how an object might literally move in. This can be seen in the work, Counting Backwards From Ten, 2012, a handrail sculpture that was made to fit within the curved wall of the gallery. Each of the works in this installation followed this same logic and were intended to rest seamlessly within the subtle architecture of the gallery.
IMAGES 15-20
These final five images are examples of works that reside somewhere between figuration and abstraction. I imagine artworks as thinking-objects, personalities pressed into a chosen material, individuals basically acting like individuals. For me it is important that the objects I make feel of this world, relating not just to the figure but to more specifically have tangible, human qualities. This can be seen in works like Club Foot and The Towel, 2011, a sculpture saturated in pepto-pink enamel with an arm that extends from the wall and a brick-like foot that makes contact with the ground. Teal Legs, 2011, was measured against the length of my body and sits against the gallery wall. Acting as both a viewer and participant within the context of the gallery, this work is in conversation with the architecture of the space and the artworks or objects that surround.
b. 1977, lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2008 MFA University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2000 BFA Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
1999 Richmond University, London, UK
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2014 Solo Exhibition, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming, September)
2013 Bumps, Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL
2012 Bromeliad Colors Prefer Soft Light, The Finley Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Front and The Back of a Head, Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY
(Frame Section with Shane Campbell Gallery)
2011 Thinking Objects, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Weird Walks Into a Room (Comma), Sarah Conaway and Lisa Williamson,
The Box, Los Angeles, CA
2010 The Reader in the Garden, Unosunove Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
2009 Whisper Chipper, Small A Projects, New York, NY
Alex Olson and Lisa Williamson, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Tropical Island / Collection Agency, 2nd Cannons Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 PYTHON, USC MFA Thesis Exhibition, Gayle and Ed Roski Fine Arts Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013 Wallspace, Tenth Anniversary Show, Wallspace, NY
Air de Pied-a-terre, Lisa Cooley, New York, NY
2012 The Boundaries of Seeing, organized by LAX and KLM at Sotheby’s, Los Angeles, CA
Made in LA, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Into the Surface, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
Phases, Wallspace, New York, NY
2011 Indeterminate Activity, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY
The Los Angeles Initiative, The Rema Hort Mann Foundation at Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, CA
Americans and Apricots, Hilary Crisp, London, England
Progression Minus Progress, Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Drawing, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
Second Story, Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, CA
Support Group: Kathryn Andrews, Gaylen Gerber and Pauline/Mateo Tannatt,
Thomas Solomon Gallery at Cottage Home, Los Angeles, CA
Auteur / Amateur, Layr Wuestenhagen, Vienna, Austria
Kathryn Andrews, Heather Cook, Leslie Vance, Lisa Williamson, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Informant, JMOCA, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Lia Trinka Brower
Current Trends in Modern Painting, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Art Foundation Mallorca, CCA Andratx Kunsthalle, Mallorca, Spain
Beyond Process, Renwick Gallery, New York, NY
Other People’s Projects, 2nd Cannons Publications, White Columns, New York, NY
Evading Customs, (catalogue) Brown Gallery, London, UK,
Summer Reading, Invisible Exports, New York, NY, curated by Mike Bouchet
Reframing, CCA Andratx Kunsthalle, Mallorca, Spain, curated by Barry Schwabsky
Kai Althoff, Justin Beal, Lisa Williamson, ACME., Los Angeles, CA
Boofthle Booth – Booth:Deux Doox-Hollywood Biennial, Pauline Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Group Exhibition, Kreiling &, Los Angeles, CA
Fault Line, Light & Wire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Boofthle – Booth Booth, Pauline Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
2012-2013 Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Nominee
2012 The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Nominee
2009 Artist in Residence, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
2007 LA Studios, Inc. Sound Award (Fellowship, audio production), Los Angeles, CA
University Teaching Fellowship, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2006 University Teaching Fellowship, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernadini, Andrew. Artforum, Online Diary Section. California Uber Alles. June 12, 2012.
Fabrik LA. Emergent: Lisa Williamson. October 11, 2012. “http://fabrik.la/lisa-williamson/” http://fabrik.la/lisa-williamson/ .
Fiduccia, Joanna and Michael Ned Holte. These Memories Can’t Wait. Kaleidoscope. Issue 09,
Winter 2010-11, pp. 50-55.
Greenberg, Kevin. AIR DE PIED-À-TERRE. The Last Magazine. January 29, 2013.
Griffin, Jonathan. Support Group, Frieze Magazine, July 30, 2010.
Holte, Michael Ned. Buoys, Props & Signs: Richard Aldrich & Lisa Williamson. Art Lies Magazine, Issue 60, December 2008.
Holte, Michael Ned. Made in L.A. 2012. ARTFORUM. October 2012.
Kent, Meaghan. Carving Out a Language: Interview with Lisa Williamson by Meaghan Kent 11.9.2012. Site 95. Journal Issue No. 11, November 2012, pp. 8-11.
Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. 2010 California Biennial, ARTFORUM, Jan 2011.
Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. Talking May Only Ruin It, Art Slant, Los Angeles, June 14, 2011.
Meirod, George, et al. Art Ltd. “Made In LA” 2012. July 2012, p.
Miles, Christopher. Kathryn Andrews, Heather Cook, Leslie Vance, Lisa Williamson at David Kordansky Gallery. LA Weekly, February 18, 2010.
Poundstone, William. Blouin Artinfo. Is the Hammer’s Biennial Hateable Enough? June 11, 2012.
Wagley, Catherine. Art is Pretty Interesting, Isn’t It?, Daily Serving, June 17, 2011.
Wahlquist, Grant. 2010 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA. Exhibition catalog and interview. 2010, pp. 182-185.