LEE LOZANO

On 5 May, Hauser & Wirth New York will present a selection of paintings from both her figurative and minimalist periods, alongside accompanying studies and drawings. In the early figurative works on view, Lozano focused on the physicality of the human form and its associations with power, sexuality, and violence. She would eventually eliminate these recognisable shapes and objects from her paintings, choosing instead to use a deliberately restricted palette and range of geometric forms to explore the phenomena of energy, light, and colour. These minimalist works, all of which have a verb as their title, were the first series she exhibited in New York at the Bianchini Gallery in 1966. Painting with three-inch housepainters’ brushes, the repeated parallel strokes were made while the pigment was still tacky, creating finely ridged, slightly reflective surfaces that are not only a striking challenge to painting’s basic elements but a profound exploration of matter itself.