Blue 2015 - 2016

Curator: Liza Lou’s "Blue", created between 2015 and 2016. It's an acrylic piece, quite minimal, wouldn't you say? Editor: Yes, initially it hits me as serene, perhaps deceptively simple. The intense, unbroken field of colour practically vibrates. There is something deeply arresting about the texture, even. Curator: Arresting is a perfect word. It almost feels less like a painting and more like an object, you know? Like a saturated, monolithic plane inviting touch. Looking closely, I am interested in its handmade feel in tension with its geometric qualities. I wonder how the artist uses materials to connect with more visceral realms. Editor: Visceral, absolutely. And in that context, I wonder about the title being "Blue", while clearly red, inviting a discussion of gendered symbolism or perhaps even intentional misdirection to subvert expectation. Red has long held a charged space—representing passion, anger, revolution… it’s loaded. Curator: Absolutely, it echoes blood and fire, visceral and, I wonder about it operating as an ode to Yves Klein's "International Klein Blue." Blue became iconic by his invention of it. So I'm curious if Lou subverts that a bit to call this red painting Blue. Editor: Now that you mention Yves Klein, I also recall that the concept of owning a colour could itself be interpreted as a commentary on appropriation, something we must consider when thinking about the relationship between art, colonialism, and capitalism. Klein's claiming blue can be seen as an example of historical and cultural power dynamics playing out in the art world. Lou’s "Blue" might then critique that very impulse, to make proprietary a fundamental thing as a colour, and the ways male-dominated traditions lay claim to colour in painting. Curator: Yes, like flipping a cosmic script with playful, almost mischievous intent. Perhaps it’s saying something about how we, as humans, try to categorise the endless, the infinite, like colour itself! And now I want to see more red… which wasn't how I felt coming in. Editor: Exactly! It pushes us to engage, to question assumptions. By creating this dialogue within herself, Liza Lou invites all to engage more consciously with our understanding. That one piece contains a multiverse, ready to explode.