Cinematography and editing: Jeremy Eichenbaum

Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Cinematography and editing: Jeremy Eichenbaum
Louise Lawler examines the conditions, procedures, presentations and boundaries of art. Her photographs and interventions analyze the contextual production of meaning as well as the infinitude of context.
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS coalesces around the idea of movement and disorientation, which has been a throughline in Lawler’s four-decade-long practice of photographing artworks in public and private collections, at auctions, or in storage.
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Displayed on the gallery’s first floor are several new swiped works, which are produced by a physical gesture in space; Lawler uses long exposures and swift camera movements to create abstract images of well-known motifs. Frozen yet moving, they become transcendent images that perpetually blur and shift, taking her longstanding investigation into the making and viewing of meaning still further.
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
What Is Painting (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
1944-N No. 2 and One: Number 31, 1950 (swiped), 2022/2023
Displayed on the gallery’s first floor are several new swiped works, which are produced by a physical gesture in space; Lawler uses long exposures and swift camera movements to create abstract images of well-known motifs. Frozen yet moving, they become transcendent images that perpetually blur and shift, taking her longstanding investigation into the making and viewing of meaning still further.
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
Fish (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
"It rests on a pivot that once allowed the work to spin" (swiped), 2023
Their subtitles, “swiped,” might be a humorous comment on the artist’s practice of capturing the works of others whilst further evoking the contemporary consumption of digital pictures on our screens – perhaps speaking to the feelings of loss of focus and clarity under the constant exposure to a deluge of pictures.
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Louise Lawler
Friendship (swiped), 2022
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Louise Lawler
Tribute (swiped), 2022/2023
Their subtitles, “swiped,” might be a humorous comment on the artist’s practice of capturing the works of others whilst further evoking the contemporary consumption of digital pictures on our screens – perhaps speaking to the feelings of loss of focus and clarity under the constant exposure to a deluge of pictures.
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
Edison Price and Breuer (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Louise Lawler
The Palace at 4 a.m. (swiped), 2023
Operating within certain structures, Lawler often displaces or redirects power and attention. In a growing body of works, her methodology involves continuously revisiting and restaging her own works by transferring them to different formats and materials, often allowing for external influences to shape what is seen.
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
For her adjusted-to-fit works, she re-presents the original image by permitting it to be digitally altered for each installation, stretching it to match the aspect ratio of a given wall. Its shape, size and position are out of the artist’s hands and are determined instead by the institution or collector displaying them, indicating the numerous influences on the procedures of presentation and reception.
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Louise Lawler
It Spins, 2023
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped), 2022
For her adjusted-to-fit works, she re-presents the original image by permitting it to be digitally altered for each installation, stretching it to match the aspect ratio of a given wall. Its shape, size and position are out of the artist’s hands and are determined instead by the institution or collector displaying them, indicating the numerous influences on the procedures of presentation and reception.
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped) (adjusted to fit), 2022/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
It Spins (adjusted to fit), 2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped) (adjusted to fit), 2022/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
Vir Heroicus Sublimis and Abraham (swiped) (adjusted to fit), 2022/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
It Spins (adjusted to fit), 2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
It Spins (adjusted to fit), 2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable to match proportions of a given wall at any scale determined by exhibitor
In the upstairs gallery, Lawler’s photographs are translated into large-scale tracings, black-and-white line versions of her photos, which are produced with children’s book illustrator Jon Buller.
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
12.7 × 17.8 cm
5 × 7 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
12.7 × 17.8 cm
5 × 7 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
12.7 × 17.8 cm
5 × 7 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Louise Lawler
Position (noun), 1982/2020
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
17.8 × 12.7 cm
7 × 5 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
17.8 × 12.7 cm
7 × 5 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
Gelatin silver print
17.8 × 12.7 cm
7 × 5 inches
38.4 × 33 cm (framed)
15 1/8 × 13 inches (framed)
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
Louise Lawler
Position (verb), 1982/2020
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS is inextricably linked to questions related to institutional framing, but it is also profoundly self-reflexive, ambivalent and contradictory.
Louise Lawler
Position (noun) (traced), 1982/2020/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
Position (noun) (traced), 1982/2020/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable at any scale determined by exhibitor
Louise Lawler
Position (noun) (traced), 1982/2020/2023
Adhesive wall material
Dimensions variable at any scale determined by exhibitor
Bringing together pieces that are connected by varying degrees of analogue and digital movement, confusion and reversal, the show turns viewers’ heads in multiple directions. Exploring the artist’s role, Lawler, at times, confounds our understanding of authorship and questions how we look at works of art, how they come to have meaning, the desires invested in these objects, their interactions and their temporality.
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Dye sublimation print on plywood
22.9 × 17.8 cm
9 × 7 inches
Installed in any direction
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Dye sublimation print on plywood
22.9 × 17.8 cm
9 × 7 inches
Installed in any direction
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Dye sublimation print on plywood
22.9 × 17.8 cm
9 × 7 inches
Installed in any direction
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Louise Lawler
Alizarin (Terrorists are made, not born), 2023
Bringing together pieces that are connected by varying degrees of analogue and digital movement, confusion and reversal, the show turns viewers’ heads in multiple directions. Exploring the artist’s role, Lawler, at times, confounds our understanding of authorship and questions how we look at works of art, how they come to have meaning, the desires invested in these objects, their interactions and their temporality.
All installation views: Sprüth Magers
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
Louise Lawler
November 10, 2023–February 10, 2024
Los Angeles
This site uses cookies to improve user experience. By clicking “Accept” you consent to our use of cookies. Further information can be found in our Cookie Policy.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
To receive all news concerning our exhibitions and events, please subscribe to our newsletter. After a long tradition of mailing poster announcements, Sprüth Magers will send this information exclusively via email going forward in order to limit our carbon footprint. Posters will still be available at our physical locations and can be sent out by mail upon request.
Our newsletter will keep you up to date with the full range of the gallery’s activities and our artists’ exhibitions, at the gallery and in museums. We send a newsletter three or four times a month.
If you sign up to receive our newsletter, we will save your email address, full name, and any other information you provide in order to send you more personalized content. We may track how often the newsletters are opened, and whether the links within them have been opened. You can revoke your consent by unsubscribing from the newsletter at any time.