By taking pictures of works of art, Louise Lawler recreates them in new and different ways. Her concept of photographic recycling also sheds new light on the art business and the interpretation of art.
The book offers the first retrospective overview of the artistic accomplishments of American conceptual artist Louise Lawler during the past twenty years. It also presents a number of very recent works, some of which were created especially for this publication. Lawler (*1947 in Bronxville, New York) subjects the concept of art to critical analysis by photographing her drawings, paintings, and sculptures and incorporating aspects of their immediate surroundings into these "copies." Viewed with a certain detachment, her demystified reproductions also reveal the contextual and situational connotations of her artworks, which recede to a certain extent into the background. In her own exhibitions, Lawler re-enacts and reflects upon these processes of institutionalization and takes a critical look at the shifts in meaning that result from appropriation by museums. In the process, she makes it clear that the presentation - and thus the interpretation - of art can never be free of value judgments.