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Acclaimed artist Lorna Bieber to exhibit new works at Ringling Museum of Art




Lorna Bieber in her studio working on “Quiet Night,” 2019-2022. LORNA BIEBER / BRAD TRENT / COURTESY PHOTO

Lorna Bieber in her studio working on “Quiet Night,” 2019-2022. LORNA BIEBER / BRAD TRENT / COURTESY PHOTO

Since the 1980s, artist Lorna Bieber has been taking what is old and turning it into something new. Her work is lauded as innovative and is centered on the principles of appropriating, recycling and manipulating imagery.

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art will present the exhibition, “Lorna Bieber: Natural World,” from May 20 through Oct. 23 in the Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art. The showing will include six of her artworks. Ms. Bieber is best known for her intricate collages, made from fragments of photographs, prints and other found materials that she arranges. Her complex, many-layered method of production includes collage, paint, copier and computer technology, as well as traditional and non-traditional photographic techniques. Her hope is to give her spectators a glimpse of the world in dramatic and surprising ways.

“Bieber’s artwork first and foremost encourages us to indulge in the pleasures of looking and discovering anew the details of the visual world,” said Christopher Jones, Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts, who organized the exhibit. “The pictures she creates often appear as if they are artifacts from the looking glass world of photographic images. In this uncanny landscape, we find overlooked or trivial images elevated to the stature of allegory or archetype.”

 

 

Ms. Bieber’s work often explores themes of memory, time and the relationship between the individual and the larger world. She has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and internationally. Her art is included in several collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bibliothèque nationale de France, The Fogg Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas), LA County Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and numerous others.

Over the past 10 years, Ms. Bieber has been producing enormous works, which she calls the “Montage” series. Although they require a large wall to show, they are made from small graphic fragments woven together. One of her earliest montages, “Tapestry” (2015), will be featured in the Ringling exhibit. In recent years, she began to incorporate images taken on her iPhone.

The Ringling will be also debuting Ms. Bieber’s two newest works, “Ordinary Day” (2019) and “Quiet Night” (2022), both of which demonstrate her complex process. “Lorna Bieber: Natural World” will offer visitors the full scope of her creativity.

A New York City native, Ms. Bieber currently lives and works there. She studied at Skidmore College and earned her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. Ms. Bieber’s grants and fellowships include The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Study and Conference Center, The Camargo Foundation, The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo.

Museum visitors will have the opportunity to hear Ms. Bieber in conversation with Mr. Jones at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 20, in the museum’s Chao Lecture Hall. At that time, she will discuss her artistic practice, reflect upon the Montage series and explore the new works debuting in the exhibition, which opens that day.

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