Artists such as Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Cy Twombly were trailblazers in mid-20th-century painterly abstraction, largely due to their innovative use of deliberate yet free-flowing brushstrokes. Pollock famously dribbled and splattered paint across the floors of his studio, while Kline crafted bold, monochromatic pieces using a few simple, gestural strokes with a large brush. This dynamic approach to rhythm and color remains captivating to this day. A significant retrospective featuring the works of Krasner and Pollock is scheduled at The Met later this year.
Artist Liza Lou explores a different medium entirely—beads—by carefully considering brushstrokes, color, and gesture. Known for her use of this material, Lou’s large-scale work, “Kitchen,” took five years to complete. In her latest creations, thousands of tiny beads in various colors, shapes, and sizes are meticulously integrated into oil paint on canvas. Drawing on the legacy of Abstract Expressionism, Lou examines the interplay between gesture, intention, organic forms, and the brushstroke as its own subject.
This month, Lou’s artwork is showcased in FAQ, a solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac. The exhibition title reflects the recurring questions Lou explores in her art. When does a painting cease to be a painting? Can a brushstroke transcend its traditional definition? Lou explains, “These works are about amplification—about making things more ideal.” She draws inspiration from a poem by Fernando Pessoa, which expresses a desire for flowers to be more than just flowers. Similarly, Lou uses her materials to make paint more than just paint.
Each bead in Lou’s work is placed with precision, forming a chromatic landscape that Lou compares to painting “straight-out-of-the-tube,” though without the ability to mix on the canvas. She focuses on color relationships, textures, and exact placement to create the illusion of blended strokes from a distance. Up close, these vibrant topographies reveal themselves as sculptural, with a soft layer of painted detail beneath. “My process involves this improv where every stroke requires everything I have, my full attention,” Lou says, describing each mark as a “violin-crescendo-holy shit-experience.”
FAQ opens on April 10 and will run through May 23 in London. More of Lou’s work can be seen on her Instagram.
