Miles McEnery Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of photograms by Liz Nielsen. The artist’s inaugural solo exhibition at the gallery, “Edge of Forever,” will open on 20 October at 520 West 21st Street and remain on view through 26 November 2022. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue featuring an essay by Grace Edquist.
Liz Nielsen is a photographer, who works without a camera to create abstract photograms, or light paintings, as she calls them, in the darkroom. Though her light paintings radiate a dreamy, serene aura, they are the result of a meticulous, methodical process of exposing light-sensitive paper to handmade negatives and various light sources that she then processes using traditional photographic chemicals. Her darkroom innovations take on a performative nature, simply reserved for an audience of one. Each photogram is completely unique and ranges in scale from intimate to substantial.
Deeply interested in expanding the boundaries of the photographic medium, Nielsen’s vibrant and luminous abstractions transform preconceived notions of traditional photography. Influenced by her philosophical studies, knowledge of the physics of light, and color theory, she uses photography to investigate visual cognition. Nielsen is fascinated by light because it is both tangible and ethereal—it surrounds us, and as she says, “it has the incredible power to shape space, infuse emotions, and transcend time.” Light is quite literally her medium and her work is conceptually about light.
Nielsen’s glossy renderings of overlapping shapes in luscious colors present a world of untapped potential and unlimited interpretation. This series consists of new stone arches, landscapes, and still lifes that are neither bound by scale or place and are set in another dimension, as dualtities emerge and light comes in and out of being.
LIZ NIELSEN (b. 1975, Ashland, WI) received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL; her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, and her Bachelor of Arts from Seattle University, Seattle, WA.
Recent solo exhibitions include Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “Apparitions,” Black Box Projects, London, United Kingdom; “Electric Romance,” 12.26 Gallery, Dallas, TX; “Rolling Aura,” David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO; “Liz Nielsen: Forcefield” (presented by Strongroom), The Dutch Reformed Church, Newburgh, NY; “I’d Like to Imagine You’re in a Place Like This,” Over the Influence, Los Angeles, CA; “Spooky Action,” Art Austerlitz, Austerlitz, NY; “Triangle Moon,” SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC; “Small,” Black Box Projects, London, United Kingdom; “Interdimensional Landscapes,” Landskrona Foto, Landskrona, Sweden; “Entanglement,” Horizont Galeria, Budapest, Hungary; and “The Arrival,” Black Box Projects, London, United Kingdom.
Recent group exhibitions include “Why I Make Art” (curated by Brian Alfred), Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “Who Really Cares?” (curated by Helen Toomer), Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY; “Time Lapse,” Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY; “Signs of Spring,” Black Box Projects, London, United Kingdom; “All Out / All In” (curated by Will Hutnick), Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY; “Only Connect,” Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL; “Magic Edge” (curated by Michelle Tillou & Andy Cross), Troutbeck, Amenia, NY; “Coming Soon” (curated by Ryan Turley), Austerlitz Historical Society, Austerlitz, NY; “Color Lab,” Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, Doha, Qatar; and “Adorned,” McColl Center for Arts and Innovation, Charlotte, NC.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including a residency at the McColl Center for Arts + Innovation, Charlotte, NC; Finalist, Meijburg Art Prize, Unseen Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Residency, Budapest Art Factory, Budapest, Hungary; Orange County Arts Council Relocation Grant, Newburgh, NY, and the CAAP Grant, Chicago, IL.
Nielsen lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Newburgh, NY.
