Lisa Holzer

Lisa Holzer’s photography explores the capabilities of flat materials and the ways in which intention can be manipulated with abstracted correlations. Text, be it song lyrics or advertising copy, is often layered, in barely legible size, on her pigment prints—a symbolic teaser much like the fine print on a prescription drug bottle. Holzer often pulls images from online directories to mirror the conceptual flatness of the commercial advertising language, and also integrates relatively flat objects into her images including doors and pancakes. The photographs are imbued with humor, and have a bodily presence that the artist has compared to little girls: “some blush. Another giggles. No one complains.” This work revolves heavily around desire, addressing the ways in which language, imagery, and color might manipulate feeling despite their deadpan exaggeration.

Holzer has shown at various international institutions including 21er Haus, Vienna, CEAAC, Strasbourg, France, Museum auf Abruf, Vienna, Salzburg Kunstverein, Austria, and MUMOK Hofstallungen, Vienna, among many other international galleries. Her work was included in 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience at the New Museum and the 2002 Berlin Biennial. She regularly performs and curated exhibitions; the artist also ran the publishing house Westphalie from 2007 to 2013.