Louise Lawler BIOGRAPHY
Early Life and Education: Growing Up in Bronxville
Louise Lawler was born in 1947 and grew up in the affluent New York suburb of Bronxville. Her father was a wealthy industrialist, and her mother was an amateur painter.
Early Interest in Art
From an early age, Lawler demonstrated a keen interest in art. She visited museums often with her mother and took art classes throughout her schooling. Lawler has cited her art education, particularly a course on semiotics she took as an undergraduate at Cornell University, as highly influential on her later work.
Time in New York
After graduating from Cornell in 1969, Lawler moved to New York City, where she became embedded in the downtown art scene. The early 1970s in New York saw the rise of the Pictures Generation, a loose group of artists focused on appropriation and critical examination of visual culture—Lawler associated with fellow Picture Generation artists such as Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, and Cindy Sherman.
Over the following decades, Lawler continued to push the boundaries of conceptual art through her unconventional and thought-provoking photography, audio works, and installations. Now considered a pioneer of her generation, Louise Lawler has cemented her status as one of the most influential artists of her time.
What is Louise Lawler known for?
Louise Lawler has led an illustrious and impactful career as an artist who has pushed boundaries and provoked thought about art and its place in the world. From her earliest works in the 1970s to her most recent large-scale installations, Lawler has challenged viewers to reconsider the meaning and value of art through her photographic practice.
Louise Lawler has established herself as a pioneering conceptual artist through photography, audio recordings, and text-based works. Her institutional critiques and examinations of systems of meaning have been highly influential for subsequent generations of artists. Lawler continues to push the boundaries of contemporary art provocatively.
Career highlights
Artistic Influences: Pop Art and Appropriation
Louise Lawler was influenced early on by Pop Art and the Appropriation movement.
Pop Art in the 1960s emphasized popular and mass culture, incorporating advertising, comic books, and pop music elements. Lawler was drawn to Pop Art’s commentary on consumerism and the use of found images from popular culture. She began appropriating and arranging photographs from lifestyle magazines, ads, and museum archives.
Pictures Generation of the 1970s and 1980s, of which Lawler was a part, built upon Pop Art and Appropriation. Artists incorporated and manipulated found images and cultural artifacts to examine how visual culture shapes society’s values and desires.
Museum Installation Esthetic
Lawler’s museum photographs highlighted the theatricality of art display and the power structures within cultural institutions. Her pictures of artworks and museum spaces drew attention to the frames, pedestals, and panels on which art is presented rather than the art itself. Lawler’s photographs laid bare the esthetic decisions in delivering art for public consumption by focusing on display mechanisms.
Commentary on Art World Politics
Lawler’s photographs, audio works, and text pieces provided social commentary on the politics and power dynamics of the art world. Her works gave visual form to the coded languages and unwritten rules of art world etiquette. Lawler’s persistent questioning of institutional authority and the entrenched social hierarchies of the art establishment established her role as a provocateur and institutional critic.
Early Work
Lawler’s earliest works were black-and-white photographs of other artists’ works displayed in collectors’ homes. By photographing art in this domestic context, Lawler highlighted the complex power dynamics in the art market and challenged traditional notions of art ownership and display. These early works established Lawler’s signature style of institutional critique delivered with wry humour and subtle subversion.
Louise Lawler List of Work
Significant Works: Adjusted, Pollock and Tina, Arranged by Color
Some of Louise Lawler’s most well-known pieces are:
1982 | “Pollock and Tina” | It features images of Jackson Pollock’s painting “Number 16” (1950) next to a photo of Tina Turner. By juxtaposing the two images, Lawler comments on the art world’s “male genius.” |
1986 | “Does Marilyn Monroe Make Any Difference?” | It features an image of Marilyn Monroe’s “The Seven Year Itch” next to a generic floral arrangement. This work examines representations of femininity and sexuality in popular culture. |
1987 | “Arranged by Color” | This piece rearranged works at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) according to their dominant colours. |
2913 | “No Drones” | It is a neon sign installed on the facade of the Museum of Modern Art, which ironically prohibits the use of drones, given that they are not allowed in the museum space. This work comments on issues of surveillance and control in public areas. |
1972-81; 2016 | “Birdcalls” | It presents recordings of Lawler imitating bird calls while at a museum. This audio piece highlights the act of artistic production and Lawler’s long-standing critique of the art establishment. |
Photographing the Photographed
Lawler is known for photographing artworks that have already been photographed, in the process of being photographed, or in museum storage. By photographing these photographed works, Lawler draws attention to the systems of display and distribution in the art world.
Her photographs point out the various “lives” a work of art can have—in a museum, in storage, in publications, etc. This re-photographing highlights how an artwork’s meaning depends on the context.
Exposing the Mechanisms of Display
Lawler’s photographs also expose the mechanisms behind displaying art, whether in private collections or museums. Her photos of art handlers, the backs of paintings, and the hardware involved in hanging a show bring to light everything usually hidden in the polished art presentation.
She photographs the nails, hooks, and braces holding up paintings, as well as the condition reports and ID tags on the backs of artworks. These types of photographs draw attention to the material aspects of art that are often overlooked.
Institutional Critique
Lawler’s photographs implicitly critique art institutions and the systems that determine an artwork’s value or meaning. By focusing her lens on collecting, displaying, and distributing art, Lawler reveals the layers of mediation between the artist, the artwork, and the public. Her photographs suggest these institutional frameworks actively construct meaning rather than passively present art.
Louise Lawler’s provocative and subversive approach provides witty insight into the inner workings of art institutions. Through re-photographing the photographed and exposing the mechanisms of display, Lawler’s work offers a cunning institutional critique and commentary on how meaning is made in the art world. Her photographs suggest the artist, artwork, and public are all subject to the mediating forces of the museum and market.
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