Liza Lou: Bead the World

Using only her vivid imagination and millions of tiny glass beads, Liza Lou has gained international attention in a few short years for her ingenious ability to transform seemingly mundane objects and scenes of domestic bliss into dazzling reflections on the American ideal.

This exhibition, organized by the Akron Art Museum, features three of Lou's incredible works. They include Kitchen, a 168-square-foot, room-size installation in which every surface-refrigerator, stove, kitchen sink-is covered with glittering glass beads; Back Yard, with more than 250,000 hand-beaded blades of grass; and the Portrait Gallery, portraits of our country's 42 presidents.

Born in New York in 1969, Liza Lou left college at the age of 21 when her professors objected to her decision to "bead the world." Waiting tables and selling prom dresses by day, she embarked on the solitary, five-year journey to bead an entire kitchen. Composed of more than 10 million beads, this tour de force tribute to "women's work" transforms suburban drudgery into a sparkling celebration of American ingenuity.

Liza Lou's work is undeniably enjoyable and beautiful. It celebrates light and color and is infused with humor. Simultaneously, it serves as a subversive commentary on American culture. Back Yard, for instance, measuring 18 x 26 x 9 feet, takes beauty to the point of obsession. This perfect site of suburban leisure is actually a record of magnificent toil, representing not only the relentless hours we invest in perfecting our own lawns and homes but also the countless hours and immeasurable labor required of Liza Lou to complete it.

Liza Lou's extraordinary meditations on the ordinary address important cultural and historical issues including the value of labor, society's ravenous desire to domesticate the outdoors and our current political structure. A cornerstone of the American Dream is the belief that anyone, no matter how humble his or her beginnings, can aspire to one day be president. As part of her continuing endeavor to tap into America's "collective dream," Liza created Portrait Gallery. These 42 portraits, rendered using black, white and gray beads, remind us how quickly we forget those who helped shape our nation.

Theatrical and thrilling, Liza Lou's beaded world is full of wondrous and unexpected juxtapositions and ripe with amusing detail. Whether it is a sparkling glorification of the American suburban dream or its ultimate send-up is not really the issue. As Liza says, "The dignity of the doing is the meaning of my work." Pressetext

Liza Lou: Bead the World