Born in 1975 in Wisconsin, USA
Lives and works in New York, USA
Apparitions
Liz Nielsen’s work is a contemporary application of one of the best-known avant-garde photographic processes: the photogram. Using traditional photographic chemicals in the darkroom, Nielsen’s light paintings’ are sublime depictions of otherworldly realms and forms created using the historic photogram technique, a method of camera-less photography that reduces the medium to its most essential elements: light and photosensitive paper. Bringing together jewel-toned swathes of liquid colour with striking forms, the artist explores theories of quantum physics and spiritualism, whilst pushing the boundaries of the photographic medium.
Apparitions, the solo show presented at a ppr oc he, illustrates Nielsen’s in-depth knowledge of the phy- sics of light and colour theory. Her unique analogue colour photograms are a testament to the performative interaction of the artist’s hand, light and paper and depict the artist’s rehearsed actions, a precise choreo- graphy, performed in complete darkness. There is a mastery of technique, not only with the variation, depth of colour and texture she is able to achieve in her compositions, but also the intricacy of shapes, layers and precision within the work.
Liz Nielsen received a Master of Fine Arts in Photography at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.F.A from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Paris. Nielsen has works included in the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. She was an artist-in-residence at the Budapest Art Factory in Budapest, Hungary, in 2016 as well as at the McColl Center of Art + Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2020.
