PRESENTATION:Rick Lowe-In Search of Light

Rick Lowe’s extensive body of work in painting, drawing, and installation is paired with numerous collaborative projects, undertaken in the spirit and tradition of “social sculpture.” Working closely with individuals and communities, Lowe has identified myriad ways to exercise creativity in the context of everyday activities, harnessing it to explore concerns around equity and justice.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Archive

Rick Lowe’s debut presentation in Switzerland titled “In Search of Light”, introduces new series of drawings and paintings on paper and features his latest large-scale painting. Lowe’s practice centers on interpreting and transforming shared structures and sites, using community-based projects to catalyze change. Drawn, painted, and collaged, his abstractions complement these initiatives, taking games of dominoes as starting points from which to consider relationships between people and places. Paper is a key material for Lowe, whose works on paper function both as autonomous artworks and as a way to explore varied modes of abstraction. In search of light, Lowe explores the dynamic and associative effects of color and tone in works that are distinguished by a bright, saturated palette and emphasize dramatic contrasts of light and dark. The works on paper exhibited in were completed this year, developing previous motifs and introducing new ones. In the “Glyph Studies” drawings, made with graphite on collaged paper, Lowe assembles collections of fragmented linear structures into abstract lexicographies. Intersecting, arcing paths are a key element of “Inferno”, with its fiery palette, and “Becoming”, which adds equally vivid cool blues and greens to those warm hues, creating spatial effects that suggest active growth. With nested forms and dynamic boundaries, the Refuge Studies series reflects on taking shelter. Begun as a nonrepresentational work, “Lycabettus Hill” approximates the profile of the titular Athens landmark illuminated by the rising sun. A series of “Finding Form” works is composed with a dense grid of colorful brushstrokes interrupted by patches of white that reveal the paper support. Spanning 5.5 meters) in length, “Ragtag-ish” (2024) is the latest of Lowe’s large-scale paintings. This expansive work is traversed by meandering curves enmeshed within intricate networks of linear shapes, bringing together elements developed through his works on paper. Lowe was born in Russell County in rural Alabama. Among his earliest works are figurative “anti-paintings” derived from the aesthetics and functionality of protest signage. Engaging with issues such as police brutality, homelessness, poverty, and war, among others, these works were produced in collaboration with social justice groups and gatherings including community centers, protest rallies, and conferences. This work led Lowe to explore further the constructs that underlie political and social systems. Influenced by Joseph Beuys’s concept of social sculpture, he became interested in developing projects aimed at the transformation of civic structures and sites. To this end, in 1993 he cofounded “Project Row House0”s in Houston’s Third Ward, a historically significant and culturally charged African American neighborhood. Conceived in collaboration with artists James Bettison, Bert Long, Jr, Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples, and George Smith—as well as with neighbors and other creative thinkers, “Project Row Houses” transformed a small area of derelict shotgun houses into a vibrant cultural district. To this day, the project continues to unite groups and pool resources, manifesting sustainable opportunities for artists, young mothers, small businesses, and local residents. Lowe’s work in Houston inspired him to initiate and participate in other community enterprises throughout the United States and abroad, including the artist-driven redevelopment organization Watts House Project in Los Angeles Having used dominoes to engage directly and playfully with residents of the Third Ward during the development of “Project Row Houses”, Lowe developed a visual language based on aerial photographs of the game that reveal its resemblance to maps of urban districts. By tracing and layering the patterns he discovers, he continues to produce paintings and drawings that, while visually abstract, represent the reconfiguration and movement of communities over time. These works offer, in Lowe’s words, “an opportunity to think about the issues of equity and urban planning in a more conceptual way.”

Photo: Rick Lowe, Lycabettus Hill, 2024. Acrylic and paper collage on paper, 44 × 60 inches (111.8 × 152.4 cm) © Rick Lowe Studio. Photo: Thomas Dubrock, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Info: Gagosian, Promenade 79, Gstaad, Switzerland, Duration: 21/12/2024-26/1/2025, Days & Hours: open by appointment, https://gagosian.com