LIZ LARNER


LIZ LARNER

Since the 1980s, Liz Larner (b. 1960) has been exploring and extending the conditions and possibilities of sculpture.  Employing materials ranging from the sculptural to the mundane, including ceramics, bronze, gauze, rubber, chain, leather and bacterial cultures amongst others, Larner’s works are informed by the relationship between object, viewer and their surroundings, exploring the manifold qualities of each medium. In the late 1990s, the artist started working with ceramics, experimenting with the firing and glazing process to create works harboured out of moments of unpredictability and chance. Recent works by Larner include wall-and floor-based pieces created out of single-use plastic components. By modifying their structure and use value, she reverses the process of decay and decomposition, transforming everyday waste materials into aesthetic form.

‘Liz Larner’s earliest sculptural objects resembled experiments that were on the edge of running out of control. Having begun by making photographs of unstable mixtures in Petri Dishes […] and recording their changes, Larner became more interested in the objects themselves rather than the photographs she was making of them. Gradually she became a sculptor rather than a photographer. She has always retained, however, an interest in the instability of form. […] There is part of almost everyone that prizes stability and predictability, but there is also something that revels in decay and decomposition, especially when it happens in a way that can be made visible – where the entropic meets the abject.’

R. Ferguson, ‘Liz Larner Ceramics: An Introduction’, Liz Larner, exh.cat., Aspen Art Museum, Aspen; New York, Karma, 2016, p. 5

Image: ix (calefaction), 2016, ceramic, glaze, stones, minerals, 59,1 x 97,8 x 24,8 cm.; 23 1/4 x 38 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. Photo: def image

Artist Talk

Solo Exhibitions


Group Exhibitions


Selected Institutional Exhibitions


Biography


VITA

1960

Born in Sacramento, USA


1985

BFA, California Institute of Arts


1999

Guggenheim Fellowship


2000

Anonymous Was a Woman grant


2002

Lucelia Artist Award


2005

Pacific Design Center, Stars of Design Awards, Category of Art


2014

Nancy Graves Foundation, Nancy Graves Grants for Visual Artists


2018

Mutina, This Is Not a Prize


Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Art Institute of Chicago

Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin

Dallas Museum of Art

Deste Foundation, Athens

Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Puteaux

The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Jumex, Mexico City

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna

Marciano Collection, Los Angeles

The Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington

The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

“______”
The Modern Institute, Glasgow

below above
Kunsthalle Zürich (catalogue)

Don’t put it back like it was
SculptureCenter, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (catalogue)


2021

Galerie Max Hetzler, London

As Stars and Seas Entwine
Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2020

New Works
Peder Lund, Oslo


2019

As Below, So Above
Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2017

Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2016



Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)

Aspen Art Museum


2015

X
Aspen Art Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Space is better than time, but time is okay
Modern Institute, Glasgow


2014

Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2011

The M Building, Miami

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York


2010

Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2008

Selected Sculpture from the Early 1990s
Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2006

2001
Public Art Fund, New York


2005

Regen Projects, Los Angeles


2003

East of What?
303 Gallery, New York


2002

Untitled
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago


2001

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles


1999

303 Gallery, New York


1998

Regen Projects, Los Angeles

I Thought I Saw a Pussycat
Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna


1997

303 Gallery, New York

Kunsthalle Basel


1994

Without Words
303 Gallery, New York


1993

Jennifer Flay Galerie, Paris


1992

Peter Pakesch, Vienna


1991

Stuart Regen Gallery, Los Angeles 


1990

Galleri Nordanstad-Skarstedt, Stockholm


1989

Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna

303 Gallery, New York 


1988

Margo Leavin Gallery,  Los Angeles

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022

Joan Didion: What She Means
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Reading a Wave
Palomar, Pognana Lario

Inaugural Collection Installation
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

Toucher Terre, l´Art céramique
Fondation Villa Datris, L´Isle-sur-la-Sorgue


2021

The Flames: The Age of Ceramics
Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM), Paris (catalogue)

New Time: Contemporary Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century
Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, University of California


2020

Drawing 2020
Gladstone Gallery, New York


2019

Abstract, Representational, and so forth
Gladstone Gallery, New York

Bound to the Earth
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

The Foundation of the Museum: MOCA's Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles


2018

True Stories. A Show Related to an Era - The Eighties, curated by Peter Pakesch
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2017

Tomorrow’s Man 4, curated by Jack Pierson
Regen Projects, Los Angeles

I Go, You Go, Good To Go
Unclebrother, Hancock

Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Matière Grise
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris

What I Loved: Selected Works from the '90s
Regen Projects, Los Angeles

The American Line
Skarstedt, New York

THE GAP BETWEEN THE FRIDGE AND THE COOKER
The Modern Institute, Glasgow


2016


Bortolami Gallery, New York

On Space and Place: Contemporary Art from Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Vancouver
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago

la mia ceramica
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris

ALL RIGHT
Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles

Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women
Hauser Wirth &  Schimmel, Los Angeles


2015

The Art of Our Time
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles


2014

Impulse, Reason, Sense, Conflict
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami

The Other Side - Mirrors and Reflections in Contemporary Art
Belvedere, Vienna

CalArts Art Benefit & Auction
Paula Cooper Gallery and Metro Pictures, New York

Prospect 2014
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego


2013

Kunst & Textil: Stoff als Material und Idee in der Moderne von Klimt bis heute
Kunstmuseum Wolfsberg

Damage Control: Art and Deconstruction Since 1950
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, travelled to;
Mudam, Luxembourg;
Kunsthaus Graz

Room to Live: Recent Acquisitions and Works from the Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles 

Nasher Xchange
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas 

For the Time Being: Hidden Behind Plaster
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden

Endless Bummer II: Still Bummin
Marlborough Gallery Chelsea, New York 

Speak, Memory
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, New York 

Made in Space
Night Gallery, Los Angeles

Selections from the Permanent Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles 

A Point of View: Selected Gifts from the Laurence A. Rickels Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles



2012

Blues for Smoke
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, travelled to;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus

Group Face
Paradise Garage, Venice, CA

DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Prima Materia
Gladstone Gallery, Brussels

Intimate Immensity: The Susan and Larry Marx Collection
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles


2011

...there is a crack in everything
Michael Janssen, Berlin

Paul Clay
Salon 94 Bowery, New York

De-Building
Christchurch Art Gallery


2010

The Artist's Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

Under Destruction
Museum Tinguely, Basel ;
Swiss Institute, New York (2011)

The Jewel Thief
Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs

Immaterial
Ballroom Marfa

Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection
The Hammer Museum,  Los Angeles

Collecting Biennials
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York


2009

Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

Collecting History, Highlighting Recent Acquisitions
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

Abstractionists Unite!
Glendale College Art Gallery

Between Art and Life: The Painting and Sculpture Collection
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art  


2008

Life? Biomorphic Forms in Sculpture
Kunsthaus Graz 

AURUM, Gold in Contemporary Art
Centre PasquArt, Biel

Red Wind
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles

Collecting Collections: Highlights from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles


2007

Celebrating the Lucelia Artist Award, 2001–2006
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington

Makers and Modelers: Works in Ceramic
Gladstone Gallery, New York

Blood Meridan
Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin

From Close to Home: Recent Acquisitions of Los Angeles Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

Eight Sculptors from Los Angeles
Sabine Knust, Munich

Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980–2006
Los Angeles Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall 

Fast Forward: Contemporary Collections for the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art

Uncontained
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Hammer Contemporary Collection
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles


2006

The Bong Show or This is Not a Pipe
Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York

The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society
Second International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Seville

Pose and Sculpture
Casey Kaplan, New York

Two or Three or Something: Maria Lassnig, Liz Larner
Kunsthaus Graz

Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Gone Formalism
Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburg


2005

Extreme Abstraction
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

The The
Modern Art, London

The Meeting
Center for the Arts of Eagle Rock, Los Angeles


2004

Showdown,
Schindler House, Los Angeles

Full House
East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont

100 Artists See God
The Jewish Museum, San Francisco

The Thought that Counts
Sister Gallery, Los Angeles


2003

Inaugural Exhibition
Regen Projects, Los Angeles

Within Hours We Would Be in the Middle of Nowhere
303 Gallery, New York

neugerriemschneider, Berlin

Popstraction
Deitch Projects, New York

Imagination: Perception in Art
Kunsthaus Graz

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York


2002

Parallels and Intersections: Art / Women / California, 1950–2000
San Jose Museum of Art

New Attitudes in Sculpture
The Gallery at Green Street, New York


2001

Drawings
Regen Projects, Los Angeles

A Room of Their Own: From Arbus to Gober
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles


2000

Raumkörper. Netze und andere Gebilde
Kunsthalle Basel

1999 Drawings
Alexander & Bonin Gallery, New York

00
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York


1999

Description Without Place
AC Project Room, New York

Pasadena Adjacent
Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica

Proliferation: Work from the Permanent Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles 

Life is Elsewhere
Theoretical Projects, Naples 


1997

Maxwell's Demon
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles

Elusive Paradise: Los Angeles Art from the Permanent Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

Painting Machines
Boston University Art Gallery, Boston


1996

Just Past: The Contemporary in the Permanent Collection, 1975–96
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles

Final Projects: The House
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House, Los Angeles

The Garage Project
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles

Everything That's Interesting Is New: Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection
Deste Foundation, Athens


1995

The Big Night
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena

Plane/Structures
White Columns, New York

Ambient
Olivier Antoine, Nice

Saturday Night Fever
Thomas Solomon's Garage, Los Angeles


1994

Un Papillon sur la Roue
L' Espace d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Toulouse et Midi-Pyrenées, Toulouse

Plane/Structures
Otis Gallery, Los Angeles


1993

Co-Conspirators
James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica

Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?
Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris

Sonsbeek 93, Arnhem

Informationsdienst
Art Acker, Berlin

At the Edge of Chaos - New Images of the World
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek

The Elusive Object: Recent Sculpture from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Stamford



1992

Multiplicity
Thea Westreich Associates, New York

FluxAttitudes
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York

Speaker Project
ICA, London

Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne

Recent Acquisitions: Selected New Works in the Permanent Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles

How It Is
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York

Tattoo Collection
Jennifer Flay Gallery, Paris

Not Quiet
Jennifer Flay Gallery, Paris

Helter Skelter
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Group Drawing Show
Stuart Regen Gallery, Los Angeles


1991

New Works by Gallery Artists
303 Gallery, New York

FluxAttitudes
Hallwalls, Buffalo

Enclosure
Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles

The Body
The Renaissance Society, Chicago

Gulliver’s Travels
Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne

Lick of the Eye
Shoshona Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica

American Art of the Eighties
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento

Plastic Fantastic Lover (object a)
Blum Helman Warehouse, New York

Devices
Josh Baer Gallery, New York

Liz Larner, Karen Kilimnick, Collier Schorr, Anne Walsh
Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, New York

Liz Larner, Rosemarie Trockel, Meg Webster
Stuart Regen Gallery, Los Angeles

Drawings
Luhring Augustine Hetzler, Santa Monica

The Köln Show
various galleries, Cologne

Santa Monica Editions
Luhring Augustine Hetzler, Santa Monica

nonrePRESENTation
Security Pacific Corporation Gallery, Los Angeles

Work in Progress? Work?
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York


1990

Signs of Life. Process and Materials, 1960–1990
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

Artificial Nature
Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, The House of Cyprus, Athens

Stendhal Syndrome: The Cure
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

Mind Over Matter: Concept and Object
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne

Liz Larner, Rosemarie Trockel, Meg Webster
Stuart Regen Gallery, Los Angeles


1989

Whitney Biennial 1989
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

The Desire of the Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Galerie Ryszard Varisella, Frankfurt/Main

David Cabrera, Larry Johnson, Liz Larner
303 Gallery, New York

Archaeology II
Roy Boyd Gallery, Los Angeles

Specific Metaphysics
Sandra Gering Gallery, New York


1988

Nayland Blake, Liz Larner, Richard Morrison, Charles Ray
303 Gallery, New York

A Drawing Show
Cable Gallery, New York

Re:Placement
L.A.C.E., Los Angeles

Life Like
Lorence Monk Gallery, New York

DAG, Los Angeles


1987

Room 9
Tropicana Hotel, Los Angeles

Nothing Sacred
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles

1987 Annuale
L.A.C.E., Los Angeles

Jeffrey Linden Gallery, Los Angeles

Reworks: Recent Sculpture
New Langton Arts, San Francisco

L.A. Hot and Cool
M.I.T. Visual Arts Center, Cambridge

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monographs

Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications (Eds.): Liz Larner, Berlin, 2016

Aspen Art Museum / Karma (Eds.): Liz Larner, New York, 2016

Kunsthalle Graz (Ed.): Two or Three or Something: Maria Lassnig, Liz Larner, Graz, 2006

Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (Ed.): Liz Larner, Los Angeles, 2001

MAK-Galerie (Ed.): Liz Larner, Vienna, 1998

Kunsthalle Basel (Ed.): Liz Larner: 12/1997, Basel, 1997



Others

Skira Rizzoli (Ed.): Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016, Milan, 2016

Whitney Museum of American Art, Yale University Press (Eds.): Whitney Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collection, New Haven, 2015

Prestel (Ed.): Regen Projects 25, New York, 2015

Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (Eds.): The Jewel Thief, Saratoga Springs, 2014

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, DelMonico Books/Prestel (Eds.): Art and Destruction Since 1950, New York, 2013

Nasher Sculpture Center (Ed.): Nasher XChange: 10 Years. 10 Artists. 10 Sites, Dallas, 2013

Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Kunsthalle Bielefeld/ Walther König (Eds.): Auf Zeit/For The Time Being, Cologne, 2013

Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and DelMonico/ Prestel (Eds.): Blues for Smoke, New York, 2012

Distanz (Ed.): Under Destruction, Berlin, 2010

Phaidon (Ed.): Art & Today, London, 2008

Kunsthalle Graz (Ed.): Leben? /Life?: Biomorphe Formen in der Skulptur / Biomorphic Forms in Sculptures Graz, 2008

International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville/Okwui Enwezor (Eds.): The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society, Seville, 2007

Greybull Press (Ed.): The Book on Vegas, Los Angeles, 2007
    
Dallas Museum of Art (Ed.):  Fast Forward: Contemporary Collections for the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2007

Municipal Art Gallery (Ed.): Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Artists, 1980–2006, Los Angeles, 2007

Casey Kaplan Gallery (Ed.): Pose and Sculpture, New York, 2006

Bundeskanzleramt Kunst: L.A. Women - Artists and Architects, Vienna, 2006

Christopher Bollen, Alix Browne/Edition 7L (Eds.): Artists, Paris, 2006    

Whitney Museum of American Art (Ed.): Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, New York, 2006

Francesca Richer, Matthew Rosenzweig/D.A.P. (Ed.):  No. 1: First Works by 362 Artists, New York, 2006

Black Dog Publishing (Ed.): L.A. Artland: Contemporary Art From Los Angeles, London, 2005

Independent Curators International (Ed.): 100 Artists See God, New York, 2004

Allworth Press (Ed.): Sexed Universals in Contemporary Art, New York, 2004

Kunsthaus Graz (Ed.): Imagination: Perception in Art, Graz, 2003

Diana Burgess Fuller, Daniela Salvioni/University of California Press (Eds.): Art/Women/California: Parallels and Intersections, 1950–2000, San Jose, 2002

Kunsthalle Basel (Ed.): Keine Kleinigkeit, Benefiz-Auktion, Basel, 2002

Boston University Art Gallery (Ed.):  Painting Machines, Boston, 1997

Kunsthalle Basel, Schwabe & Co. AG (Eds.): Liz Larner, Basel, 1996

DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Hatje Cantz (Eds.): Everything That's Interesting is New. The Dakis Joannou Collection, Ostfildern ,1996

Pakesch & Schlebrügge (Ed.): Fama & Fortune Bulletin No. 19, Vienna, 1996

Otis School of Art (Ed.): Plane/Structures, Los Angeles, 1994

White Columns (Ed.): The Naming of Colors, New York, 1993

Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon (Ed.): Sonsbeek 93,  Arnhem, 1993

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Ed.): Louisiana Revy, Humlebaek, 1993

Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (Ed.): Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, Los Angeles, 1992

Gallery Jennifer Flay (Ed.): Not Quiet: Felix González-Torres, Liz Larner, Christian Marclay, Matthew McCaslin, Paris, 1992

Jeffrey Deitch, Dan Friedman/DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art (Eds.): Artificial by Nature, Athens, 1990

Colin Gardner/ Security Pacific Corporation Gallery (Eds.): nonrePRESENTation, Los Angeles, 1990

Institute of Contemporary Art University of Pennsylvania (Ed.): Signs of Life: Process and Materials, 1960-1990, Philadelphia, 1990

Andrea Rosen Gallery (Ed.): Stendhal Syndrome: The Cure, New York, 1990

Tim Power/Stadt Museum Graz (Eds.): Notes on Works by Liz Larner, Graz, 1988, pp. 103–105

Videos


Publications


True Stories. A Show Related to an Era – The Eighties

Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin | Paris | London / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2019
With texts by Peter Pakesch, Lutz Eitel and Wilhelm Schürmann and a conversation between Peter Pakesch, Max Hetzler and Hans Werner Holzwarth

€ 80.00

Liz Larner

Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin | Paris / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2016
With an essay by Peter Pakesch

€ 45.00

la mia ceramica

Lynda Benglis, Ida Ekblad, Lucio Fontana, Günther Förg, Liz Larner, Fausto Melotti, Navid Nuur, Pablo Picasso, Sterling Ruby, David Salle, Josh Smith, Rosemarie Trockel, Rebecca Warren, Edmund de Waal
Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2016
With an introduction by Edmund de Waal

€ 35.00

Selected Press


Artnet News February 2022

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Artforum February 2022

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New York Times January 2022

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Art in America December 2021

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Frieze December 2021

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Artsy May 2016

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Whitewall Summer 2016

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Cultured February – March 2016

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Forbes March 2016

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Artforum September 2013

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Art in America November 2006

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BOMB Summer 2006

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sculpture June 2002

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