Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Erika Lizée’s Absorbing, Transcendental ‘Seed of Life’ Installation

Erika Lizée, an artist based in Los Angeles, created an installation for new exhibition “Shift and Fade” at BLAM's Los Angeles location. The show challenged artists in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles to “explore material as a metaphor for personal history.” In response, Lizée crafted “Seed of Life,” an installation based in acrylic on Duralar.

Erika Lizée, an artist based in Los Angeles, created an installation for new exhibition “Shift and Fade” at BLAM’s Los Angeles location. The show challenged artists in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles to “explore material as a metaphor for personal history.” In response, Lizée crafted “Seed of Life,” an installation based in acrylic on Duralar.



The geometric design in the piece is created from overlapping circles, hinting at the “Flower of Life,” the ancient symbol found in many of the world’s ancient religions. The artist uses both the flat portions and a corner of the space to pull the structure into existence. And the result of this meditation on the nature of humanity and the Earth is something otherworldly.

“In my installations, I utilizing illusionistic painting where surfaces of the gallery walls become real and metaphorical dividing lines between the realms of things that do not physically exist, and those that do,” the artist says of her illustrations. “Mysterious and abstract elements appear beyond the surface of the wall, while others emerge from this space into the physical realm of the viewer.”

This is evidenced in the artist’s other work, as well. Take “Transfiguration,” from an installation this year at Tom Bradley International Terminal in the Los Angeles International Airport. Using the same materials, the artist creates an expansive, engrossing experience.



Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Pablo Picasso once said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” And while art has evolved dramatically, the classic fundamental of anatomy remains the same. Czech sculptor Monika Horčicová creates ornate installations with polyester resin skeletons as her medium. Some might call her work morbid, others a beautiful reimagining and application of the human form. Her technique requires a keen understanding of anatomy before she can manipulate it- and her work is not just an abstraction. She’s walking a line between natural construction and purely artistic expression. Take a look after the jump!
In Norwegian artist Per Kristian Nygård's most recent installation, "Not Red But Green," a lush, hilly lawn spilled out of NoPlace in Oslo. Its manicured grass resembled a scene from a well-kept park, not a gallery, effectively conflating the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Nygård's work is conceptual and cryptic. He describes the inspiration for "Not Red But Green" coming from a fever dream he experienced during a bout of the flu. In his vision, he discovered a lump on his body and imagined himself traversing a crater of flesh and a forest of hair. The hills in the installation came from this personal nightmare, but regardless of their backstory, they create a disorienting viewing experience that asks one to question the ways we commodify natural phenomena for human consumption.
Mexican artist Damián Ortega (covered here) reconceptualizes everyday objects in his sculptural installations. For twenty years, his creative interests have lied in the deconstruction of form and how things are assembled. His solo exhibition at HangarBiocca in Milan, Italy, "Casino," is also a retrospective of his most famous works through today. This includes his new installation, "Zoom," made for the event. The experience of viewing his artwork has been described as "explosive," displaying a burst of energy, like an exploding star. Objects and vehicles such as his Volkswagon Bug, "Cosmic Thing," (2002) are transformed as a critique about technological innovation. See more after the jump.
Known for his provocative installations that bend both reality and perception, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson (previously featured on Hi-Fructose) aims to emphasize the relativity of reality. In his latest of many ambitious projects, he situates his works in the stunning baroque space of the Viennese Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy in an aptly titled exhibition, "Baroque Baroque". While the relationship between his contemporary work and the extravagant exhibition space might not be clear at first, it comes into focus as both the art and its setting reflect a “prolific process of constant reformulation.” The double title emphasizes how the exhibition is a reformulation of a reformulation- a space of altered expectations and aesthetics.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List