Louise Lawler

Louise Lawler's exhibition Looking Forward focuses on recent pictures that capture artworks in a state of transition. Photographing at the Basel and Miami art fairs, the Museum of Modern Art, Christie's and various galleries, Lawler presents a behind-the-scenes view of art: the hoisting of a Serra sculpture attended by uniformed handlers; white-gloved hands carefully transporting a Richter painting; Cattelan's giant Picasso head swathed in plastic sitting on the floor behind its disconnected body; another Richter painting lying on its side propped against the wall, its public exposure at MoMA at an end; a Hirst spin-painting glimpsed through a closet door.

In her photographs, Lawler examines the settings and details of the art arena that are not immediately apparent. This focus on the margins of art serves to underscore a poignant look at the art words themselves, which do transcend their surroundings. Lawler titled her 2004 survey show at Museum fur Gegenwartskunst in Basel Louise Lawler and Others in acknowledgement of the artists whose artworks she photographs. The exhibition selectively spanned the past 20 years of Lawler's photographic work and was accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue.

Lawler has had one-person exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford (1984); Museum of Modern Art in New York (Projects, 1987); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1990); Sprengel Museum, Hannover (1993); Munich Kiunstverein (1995); Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. (1997); Portikus, Frankfurt (2003). A retrospective exhibition is scheduled for the Wexner Museum in 2006.