Louise Lawler
American, born 1947
Blume
INV-1850
Louise Lawler
American, born 19472003
21st Centuryphotographphotography
Date
2003
Medium
Cibachrome on aluminum box
Dimensions
114.9 × 128.9 cm (45 1/4 × 50 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Through prior bequest of Marguerita S. Ritman
Louise Lawler first rose to prominence in 1984, when she photographed the renowned collection of modern and contemporary masterworks owned by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine as it was installed in their Connecticut home. Since that time, Lawler has focused her camera on the installation of works of art to examine the institutional frameworks that determine their significance. The resulting photographs transcend pure documentation, occupying a key position within conceptual discourse. Blume, a recent icon in Lawler’s oeuvre, documents a Jeff Koons sculpture on display at Galerie Max Hetzler’s booth at Art Basel in 2003. Due to its highly reflective surface, the artwork becomes a vehicle for advertising other objects for sale; like the artist, it reflects and records the installation of surrounding art. Finally, Koons’s polished surface yields an unavoidable self-portrait of Lawler, with her camera, at the moment of photographic capture.
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