NO TITLE | LEE LOZANO

That of Lee Lozano (USA, 1930-1999) is the figure of a versatile and multidisciplinary artist, but also impertinent and free, who always autonomously decided which direction to steer her artistic career, until her official withdrawal in the 1970s.
Hers is a feminist vision that manifests through the representation of parts of the male body in a sometimes caricatural style. From her work emerges a personal interpretation of the body-machine relationship.

A substantial corpus of artworks is represented by numerous drawings showing everyday tools and intimate body parts, as well as abstract representations that combine both of them.
No title (1963) is a drawing made on paper with graphite and pastel. It depicts a pencil sharpener, portrayed in a slightly distorted perspective, which enlarges and emphasizes the hole into which to insert the pencil for sharpening. Lozano’s works are dotted with these references, more or less implicit, to the sexual act. The artist often uses objects and tools as metaphorical representations of intimate parts of the human body.
The edges of the pencil sharpener are serrated, giving the impression that the object is not just a simple tool to keep in a pencil case, but rather a kind of improper weapon with which it is easy to cut or prick oneself.
In the bottom right corner of the sheet, underneath the date and the artist’s signature, the word “empty” is readable. Drawings, texts, and wordplay are the means Lozano uses to create her own artistic language, a language that bounces between formal and conceptual metaphors in a deeply rich loop of meanings.

In No title, in addition to Lozano’s strong stylistic imprint, one can notice the artistic influences derived from the era in which it was created, when minimalism and pop art dominated the contemporary art scene. In this context, Lozano’s language, which pays particular attention to theoretical concepts, allowed her to establish herself as a pioneer of conceptual art.

Lee Lozano
No title, 1963
Graphite and crayon on paper, 58.5 x 73.8 cm (23 1/16 × 29 1/16 in)
Pinault Collection
© The Estate of Lee Lozano, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Barbora Gerny

06/04/24