Artist Liza Lou’s new exhibition Painting at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York debuts 12 new works made from tens of thousands of colorful glass beads that resemble brushstrokes. It’s a color and texture surprise that offers more intrigue the closer you view – a hybrid between paint and pixels, light and extreme physicality. Inspired by her experience viewing paint through a microscope, Liza Lou again pushes her signature material into fresh and unexpected possibilities.

For over three decades, Liza Lou has shocked and dazzled the contemporary art world with her room-sized installations of glass beads. Her full-sized hyper-color Kitchen (1991-1996) for example, took five years to construct with millions of beads and drew crowds (again) at a recent exhibition at the Whitney Museum. And just last week, the Brooklyn Museum installed her 40-foot Trailer (1998-2000) in their entry pavilion – inviting viewers to peer, one at a time, into a real 1949 mobile home with an eerie and unbelievable fully-beaded interior.

Lou again pushes into new ground in her current work – where beads become oversized pigment particles. Rather than the well-ordered mosaic-like beads of Kitchen however, these beads pile and clump into coral-like 3D pixels. All were constructed in solitude at her studio in the Mojave Desert. (See her studio in Joshua Tree below!)

Each work here was also composed intuitively – one brushstroke at a time – resulting in works that may reference art historical echos, but also exist as great abstract paintings in their own right. At moments you forget the beads and just enjoy great compositions and expression.

But this unique material also produces some effects that I’ve never seen in paint – especially as you get closer. The best moments are when “brushstrokes” overlap. The beads, unable to blend like wet paint or fully cover the layer beneath, break into a joyous chaos of intense color particles in the most dense areas.

Falling Action 2024 (above) is a stand-out, with a sewn white beaded background that resembles canvas and a few brushstrokes of “real paint” that camouflage with the beads as they skip across the surface.

Though I can’t wait to see one of these juxtaposed with other paintings in a museum, it is exceptionally special to see all 12 in one space – an accumulation that exceeds any one work. A visit to the gallery this fall is highly recommended.

And as bonus, I highly recommend combining your gallery visit with a trip to the Brooklyn Museum to see Trailer. Created over 20 years apart with the same material, the works could not be more visually different and both become more complex, mysterious, and rich when seen together.

What: Liza Lou: Painting
Where: Lehmann Maupin Gallery, 501 W 24^th St, New York, NY
When: September 5 – October 12, 2024 

Bonus:  Liza Lou’s Trailer (1998-2000) on view at The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, New York. (Check website for hours).

All artwork and installation images courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London. Detail images photographed by author David Behringer for Design Milk.