Exhibitions

LORI LARUSSO: GAZE & GARNISH

Tinney Contemporary / 237 Rep. John Lewis Way N. November 16 - December 21st

Lori Larusso

Tinney Contemporary is proud to present Gaze & Garnish, a solo exhibition of works by Lori Larusso. The exhibition will be on display from November 16 to December 21, 2024. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 16 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. with an additional reception in conjunction with the Downtown First Saturday Art Crawl on December 7, 2024

The works in Gaze & Garnish emerged from Lori Larusso’s continued examination of femininity and the domestic sphere. With her signature balance of technical craft and humor, the artist composes highly-stylized representations of decorative objects, providing inroads to discussions of gender, class, and the act of looking.

Here, the artist has honed in on the ceramic works of Betty Lou Nichols, a mid-century ceramicist whose works gained renown during WWII. Nichols’ signature vessel—a vase resembling a doll-like caricature of a woman’s head—became immensely popular in the 1960s, spawning countless mass-market knockoffs. These heavily-lashed, hollow busts often bear the effigies of pop-cultural icons (such as Marilyn Monroe or Jackie Kennedy), appearing to sprout floral arrangements from the tops of their downcast visages.

Larusso’s brightly-hued depictions of Nichols’ vases are accompanied by equally vibrant citrus curls and other drink garnishes which appear on colorful backdrops, isolated from their implied cocktails. These embellishments, which are cursorily discarded, epitomize luxury and excess. The exhibition also features flattened reproductions of destroyed flower vases which are mounted at foot level and extend onto the floor.

Larusso’s elevation of the ornamental highlights the complexities of representation, specifically with regard to traditional depictions of femininity. Gaze & Garnish alludes to the power dynamics of looking; the ways in which women and femmes are objectified and relegated to the margins. This subjugation is carried out across mediums: viewers are often presented an image of femininity which has been stripped of context and agency, and exists to bear the gaze of a male protagonist. By abstracting and re-presenting these carefully-cultivated objects—whose primary function is to provide visual pleasure—Larusso invites viewers to interrogate the processes of objectification.

Artist’s Bio

Lori Larusso is an American visual artist working primarily with themes of domesticity and foodways. Her body of work encompasses paintings and installations that explore issues of class, gender, and anthropocentrism, and how these practices both reflect and shape culture. Larusso’s work is exhibited widely in the US and is included in various public collections such as KMAC Contemporary Art Museum, 21c Museum, as well as numerous private collections. She has been awarded noteworthy residency fellowships including Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Sam & Adele Golden Foundation, and MacDowell where she received a Milton and Sally Avery Fellowship. She is a recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith Fellowship, Kentucky South Arts Fellowship, and multiple grants from the Great Meadows Foundation and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Lori Larusso earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). She currently lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky and is represented by Galleri Urbane in Dallas, TX and Rubine Red Gallery in Palm Springs, CA.