The main work in the Laguna Art Museum’s newest exhibition looks like a supine member of the Blue Man Group. “Pigment Figure No. 1” consists of a human figure in a horizontal position and is made of plaster and covered in blue pigment.
It’s part of Lita Albuquerque’s “Particle Horizon” exhibition, one of three new exhibits that open to the public on Sunday, Oct. 12.
The others include a solo exhibition of work by mixed media artist and MacArthur Foundation genius Elizabeth Turk and “California Rural, 1930s and 1940s,” selections from the collection of Diane and E. Gene Crain.
Albuquerque’s installation complements her latest large-scale performance work, “An Elongated Now,” which she will present as part of the museum’s Art & Nature festival on Nov. 8.
Both the installation and performance are reminders, of the human relationship between nature and art. Her installation will occupy the museum’s lower level while the performance will take place between the museum and Main Beach.
Albuquerque, a native of Santa Monica who was raised in Tunisia and France, studied at UCLA and the Otis Art Institute. In the late 1970s, she refocused her work from painting to ephemeral pieces set in the open landscape. These included large-scale projects at public sites such as at the Washington Monument in 1980, the Great Pyramids in 1996 and the ice desert of Antarctica in 2006, where she led an expedition of scientists and artists that culminated in the first and largest ephemeral art work created on that continent.
This year, the Center for Art + Environment in Reno, Nev., will be featuring her “Stellar Axis: Antarctica” project, which will also come to the Fisher Museum at USC in 2015. She is represented by Peter Blake Gallery in Laguna Beach and the Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles.
