Louise Lawler Art Review

In this article, Jerry Saltz reviews the work of Louise Lawler, an artist who for "three decades" has been "documenting the secret life of art," or the kind of wacky places people keep art. Finding famous art in collector's homes, galleries, auction houses and even in storage, one can not imagine where or how a famous Warhol or even Mondrain will be displayed. When describing the places where famous works of art live, the reporter describes the experience as "seeing how meat is processed." Described as "breezy and mean," Lawler is known for exposing the art world for what it really is. In one particular show, Lawler photographs some works of art by Richter, Lichtenstein and even Flavin to name a few, while the work's await their fate. Overexposing some of the images translates to how some of these works are already overexposed. Showing ultimately where all of this famous art goes gives the world a sense of what makes up the art industry.

I enjoyed this article because I never really thought about where the art goes besides the museum. I personally thought that if you had the money to buy a Warhol or Lichtenstein, that you would place it accordingly, not just anywhere as some of the photographs documented by Lawler show. I think her idea is quite interesting and something I would definitely go see in an exhibit. The idea that even after the art has been made it has another life afterward is very interesting to consider. People usually don't learn where the art is, they usually learn how the art came to be and when. Lawler's concept of showing the art after the fact is an eye opening experience that can often show the darker side of the art industry.