Lisa Liedgren Alexandersson

BOTH. AND. 

July 1  –  August 5, 2023
artist talk LINK ︎︎︎ from Saturday, July 29th

Lisa Liedgren Alexandersson’s exhibition “BOTH. AND.” explores the overlap between abstraction and cultural language. Referencing her Scandinavian roots, Liedgren Alexandersson adapts 1960’s Swedish weaving instructions into works that blur the line between an objects made for domestic use and the language of contemporary painting.

Specifically, Liedgren Alexandersson woven, photographed, painted and drawn objects are a nod to titans of American abstraction such as Barnett Newman and Agnes Martin. Using the grid as a framework, she elevates the simple stripe from the every day hand towel by adding and muddling the visual indicators of minimalism: a stack of towels point to Donald Judd’s stacked works from the 1960’s, a hanging textile sits within a beautifully made frame as neatly as an Agnes Martin painting, even the towel’s materiality references the painted canvas as both are woven from the same linen and cotton. The cultural language that instructs us on “what is art” tells us that something here should be considered carefully and when we do, we see an emotive ocean surrounding the humble object of the everyday hand towel.

The intimacy of domestic spaces spills into the world of abstract painting in “BOTH. AND.” creating a tension between the personal and the cultural. Drying racks, towels neatly stored for loving use, even the recording of colors from a Green lake sunset, all pull from Liedgren Alexandersson’s past experiences of purposeful labor, attention, and care. The woven cloth becomes its own language, symbols of subtle identity that can only be communicated when the viewer is instructed to slow down and read them not as utilitarian tools, but as revered abstract artworks.

Lisa Liedgren Alexandersson (b. 1966 Lund, Sweden) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle. Working in a range of media, her practice investigates themes of materiality and the relationship between personal and cultural languages. She is a graduate of ENSBA (MFA) in Paris and Beckmans College of Design (BFA) in Stockholm, a two-time finalist of the Betty Bowen Award, recipient of Artist Trust GAP Project Grant, 4Cuture Grant, PONCHO Special Recognition Award and a grantee of the French Ministry of Cultural and Foreign Affairs. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and Canada and is featured in museum and private collections including Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Microsoft Art Collection, and Seattle University. This is her first solo exhibition at studio e gallery.