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Biography, Awards, Commissions & Collections
Lita Albuquerque is an internationally renowned installation, environmental
artist, painter and sculptor. She is committed to developing a visual
language that brings the realities of vast time and space to a more human
scale and is widely acclaimed for her ephemeral and permanent art works
executed in the natural landscape and in public sites.
She was born in Santa Monica, California and raised in Tunisia, North
Africa and in Paris, France. At the age of eleven she finally settled
with her family in the United States. In the 1970's Albuquerque emerged
on the California art scene as part of the light and space movement and
won acclaim for her epic and poetic ephemeral pigment pieces created for
desert sites. She gained national attention in the late seventies with
her ephemeral pigment installations pertaining to mapping, identity and
the cosmos, executed and documented in the natural landscape. In 1980
Albuquerque garnered international acclaim for her pivotal installation,
THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT PROJECT, as featured in the International Sculptural
Conference. The recognition this daring work gained led to awards and
commissions at major sites around the world, including the Great Pyramids,
where she represented the United States at the International Cairo Biennale
with her installation and exhibition SOL STAR which won the prestigious
Cairo Biennale Prize.
Completing an ambitious array of public projects over the past decade,
Albuquerque has been commissioned to work in locations including: Gannett
Publishers in McLean, Virginia; The Evo De Concini Federal Courthouse
in Tucson, Arizona; Palos Verdes Central Library, California; Koll/Obayashi
Corporation, Los Angeles, CA; Tochigi Prefecture Health Center, Japan;
Saitama Guest Center, Saitama, Tokyo, and the Library at the Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies amongst numerous other sites.
Albuquerque, with architect Mitchell De Jarnett, recently installed the
largest public art commission in California state government history,
entitled GOLDEN STATE, a plaza design spanning two city blocks at the
center of the Capitol Area East End Complex in Sacramento. Conceived at
the scale of the city, this environmental artwork includes an amphitheater,
a field of sculptures and an excavation of the undulating landscape. Last
year, Albuquerque completed CELESTIAL DISK, a star map, sculpture and
waterfall in collaboration with architect Robert Kramer, which provides
the main entrance to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles.
She is currently working with architect Cesar Pelli on a sculptural floor
installation for the New Minneapolis Central Library, designing a glass
pathway, star map and water wall disk for the Wallace Chapel at Chapman
University in Orange County, CA, creating a site-specific work for the
California Institute of Technology and was selected to design a public
art installation for the North University Branch Library and Nobel Park
and Recreation Center in San Diego in 2005. Her newest ephemeral Earth
Art work THE POLE PROJECT, a star map of blue diameters on ice planned
for installation at both the North and South Poles for 2006 –2007,
will result in an exhibition of artwork, photographs and a documentary
film.
She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including: the Cairo
Biennale Prize, at the Sixth International Cairo Biennale; Arts International
award for U.S. Artist Representative for the Cairo Biennale; National
Endowment for the Arts Art in Public Places Award (1983, 1984, 1990),
a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship Grant and the
esteemed Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Perugia,
Italy (2002). In June 2004 she was honored by the MOCA Los Angeles for
their 25th anniversary celebration for her contributions to the museum.
Her work is featured in their anniversary catalogue and permanent collection.
Lita Albuquerque's work is also included in the archives of American
Art at the Smithsonian Institution and is collected by prominent museums
and Foundations, such as: the WHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART, THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY
ART, LOS ANGELES, THE GETTY TRUST, THE FREDEICK WEISMAN FOUNDATION, THE
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM, THE ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM, THE LAGUNA ART MUSEUM,
THE PALM SPRINGS DESERT MUSEUM, as well as numerous embassies and corporations,
on an extensive world wide basis.
Numerous solo exhibitions include: a career survey at Santa Monica Museum
of Art; Mary Ryan Gallery, N.Y.; Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica;
Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago; Diane Brown Gallery, Washington D.C.;
Lerner Heller Gallery, N.Y.; Robin Cronin Gallery, Houston; and Akhnaten
Galleries, Cairo. Her museum exhibition history includes Hirshhorn Museum,
Washington D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Art; Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris;
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; National
Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; L.A. County Museum of Art; and Museum
of Contemporary Art, L.A.
Albuquerque's work questions what we are in the enormity of infinite
space and eternal time. Despite a rising flood of new data and interpretive
theory, the most elemental concepts of an emerging scientific cosmology
are simply not imbedded in everyday culture. Conversely, the meaning of
this cosmology does not seem implicit in the science.
Lita Albuquerque has not flinched from the scale of such a challenge.
In a dazzling array of work at many scales and in a variety of media,
she has worked to develop a visual language capable of bringing the realities
of vast space and time to a more human scale.
Albuquerque is one of the rare artists and humanists who are responsible
for thoughtfully and imaginatively placing the elemental concepts for
a living, functional cosmology for 21st century culture within public
consciousness.
CV
Education: 1968,
University of California, Los Angeles; B.F.A., cum laude
Grants and Awards
2006 National Science Foundation Artist And Writer’s Grant, Antarctica.
2006 Distinguished Woman Artist of 2006, Fresno Art Museum Council
2005 City of Los Angeles Fellowship Award,
City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department
2002 Civitella Ranieri Foundation
Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Perugia, Italy
1996 Cairo Biennale Prize, Sixth International Cairo
Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
1996 Arts International - U.S. Artist Representative
for the Cairo Biennale, Egypt
1983, 1984, 1990 National Endowment for the Arts; Art
in Public Places
National Endowment for the Arts; Individual Fellowship
Grant
Selected Public Art Projects and Commissions
2006 City of Santa Monica,Santa
Monica Arts Commission Third Street Promenade Banners.
2006 New Central Public Library, Minneapolis, MN, Ripple
Effect, with architect Cesar Pelli (sculptural main
lobby installation currently in progress)
2004 Chapman
University Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Orange, CA,
Stellar Score (sculptural
vestibule installation)
2004 California
Institute of Technology, Stellar Mapping II, Pasadena, CA site-specific
outdoor work
2003 New Central Public Library, Minneapolis, MN architect Cesar Pelli (sculptural installation currently in progress)
2003 Chapman University Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Orange, CA (sculptural installation currently in progress)
East End Capitol Complex, Sacramento, California (in collaboration with Mitchell De Jarnett)
2002 Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, CA, architect Jose Raphael Moneo
Entrance Courtyard Fountain and Plaza (in collaboration with Robert Kramer)
2001 Cerritos Public Library Installation, Cerritos, California
Gannet Publishers World Headquarters, Executive Floor, McClean, Virginia
Saitama Guest Center, Saitama, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt, Millennium Illumination # 1 (in collaboration with Tarek Naga)
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan, Island/Universe
1999 American Embassy, Ottawa, Canada, Auric Field, Painting commission
The Evo A. De Concini Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Tucson, AZ
Gardens of Remembrance, (in collaboration with Robert Kramer),
General Services Administration Commission
1999 Chicago Beach Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Arabian Nights (in collaboration with Robert Kramer)
1996 Tochigi Prefecture Health Center, Tokyo, Japan
Stellar Source, Kotobuki Corp., Tokyo, and Joyce
Schwartz & Assoc., NY
1995 Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library, Palos Verdes, CA
Stellar Axis (in conjunction with Zimmer-Gunsul-Frasca Partnership)
Hewlitt-Packard Corporate Headquarters, Atlanta, GA, Points of Light
1994 Iowa State University Chemical Engineering Department, Ames, IO
Memory/Echo/Passage, Mural, outdoor and indoor,
NEA Grant for Art in Public Places
1992 Grand Hope Park, Los Angeles, CA, Celestial Source, created for Community Redevelopment Agency, LA, CA (in collaboration with Lawrence Halprin)
1991 Colorado Place, Maguire Thomas Partners, Santa Monica, CA, Earth Light
Kinsella, Boesch, Fujiwara and Towle, Century City, CA, Vega
1989 Koll/Obayashi Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, Site/Memory/Reflection
In conjunction with Kohn, Pederson & Fox, New York;
Langdon Wilson, Los Angeles; and the SWA Group, Los Angeles
1988 Security Pacific Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
Spheres of Influence (collaboration with Fred Fisher, Architect, Eric Orr and Jud Fine, artists)
Kilroy Airport Project, Kilroy Industries, Long Beach, CA, Fluidity I and II
Salt River Project, Phoenix, AZ, Spent Light
1987 Green Valley Civic Center, Green Valley, NV
Green Valley Obelisk, American Nevada Corporation with Robert Kraft Architects
1986 Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA. Legend, NEA Grant for Public Spaces
Ephemeral Outdoor Environmental Works
1996 Sixth International Cairo Biennale, Sol Star, Cairo, Egypt
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, Carbon Aurum
1990 El Mirage Dry Lake, CA. Recreated for Public Television KCET,
Artworks/Earthworks; documentary aired May 1990 - Present. Spine of the Earth
1983 Vermillion, South Dakota, NEA Art in Public Places Grant, Medicine Wheel
1981 Arroyo Grande Sand Dunes, San Luis Obispo, CA,
Inconceivable Mansion; Cuesta College
1980 El Mirage Dry Lake Desert, funded by California State University, Long Beach,
Spine of the Earth
California State University, Bakersfield, Double Reflective
International Sculptural Conference, Washington, DC,
Washington Monument Project, the Red Pyramid, funded
by Intíl Sculptural Conference, Washington, DC
1979 Mojave Desert, CA, Man and the Mountain II
Nielsen Residence, Los Angeles, CA, Window into the Earth
1978 Malibu, CA, Malibu Line, Moon Shadow, Blue Rock
Death Valley, CA, Man and the Mountain # 1
Mojave Desert, CA, Rock and Pigment Installation
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2005 Cal State Fullerton Main Art Gallery“As Above So Below: Art as Political Space”,
Fullerton, CA
2002 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
2001 Peter Nagy Gallery, New Delhi, India
2000 Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, New York
1998 Louis Stern Gallery in conjunction with the
Armand Hammer Museumís Sunshine and Noir exhibition, Los Angeles,
CA
William Turner Gallery in conjunction with the Armand
Hammer Museumís Sunshine and Noir exhibition, Venice, CA
1996 Akhnaten Galleries, Cairo, Egypt
1995 Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, Particle Memory
1994 University of Judaism, Los Angeles, CA
1993 The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
1991 Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1990 Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, Reflections, curated by Henry Hopkins, career survey sponsored by Los Angeles Fellows of Contemporary Art
1989 The Works Gallery, Long Beach, CA
1988 Richard Green Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986 Saxon-Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Works Gallery, Long Beach, CA
1984 Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago, IL
1982 Robert Cronin, Inc., Houston, TX
Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1980 Lerner-Heller Gallery, New York, NY
Diane Brown Gallery, Washington, DC
Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago, IL
1979 Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Casat Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1977 University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Fine Arts Gallery, Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA
Janus Gallery, Venice, CA
1976 Jack Glenn Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
1974 Ellie Blankfort Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2005 Kellogg Gallery, The Big Book Show, Cal State Pomona, CA
2004 Barnsdall Art Center, Bio Ballistic, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Grand Central Art Center, 100 Artists See Satan, Cal State University, Fullerton, CA
2003 San Diego Museum of Art, Of Earth and Sky, Elements in Abstraction, San Diego, CA
2003 Todd Madigan Art Gallery, Made in CA ñ selected works from
Frederick Weisman Foundation, Cal State University,
Bakersfield
2003 Art Museum Council, Special Projects Gallery, LA County Museum of Art, CA
2003 Palos Verdes Art Center, Exploring the Cosmos, Palos Verdes, CA
2003 Contemporary Arts Center, Made in California: Selections from the R. Weisman Art Foundation Collection, New Orleans, LA
2002 California Art from the Weisman Art Foundation, Frederick R. Weisman
Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
2001 St. John of the Divine, curated by Peter Nagy Gallery, New York, New York
2001 Gallery 825, Romancing the Universe, Los Angeles, CA
Horizon Drawing Center, New York, New York
2000 Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, New York
Molly Barnes Gallery, Twelve Divas, Santa Monica, CA
1999 California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA, The Eclectic Eye:
Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Collection
University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA,
The Women-Founders and Innovators
1996 Bakersfield Museum of Art and Todd Madigan Gallery, Bakersfield, CA,
Process Art: West Coast 70ís, 80ís, 90ís
California State University, Northridge, CA, Rear View
1995 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Made in LA: Prints of Cirrus Editions
New York Academy of the Sciences, New York, NY, Irrational Landscapes
1994 Madison Art Center, Madison, WI, Southern California: The Conceptual Landscape
Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA, The Gold Show
1992 Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO
The Artist and Sacred Space
Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT, Dreams and Shields: Spiritual Dimensions in Contemporary Art
1991 Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, One Over One
Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA, The Artist and Sacred Space
1990 Aspen Art Museum , Aspen, CO, Sculpture/Aspen 1990
1989 California State University, Fullerton, CA, Thought and Landscape
1987 National Gallery of Modern Art, New Dehli, India, Visions of Inner Space
Amerika Haus, Berlin/West, West Germany (curated by Noriko Fujinami)
Los Angeles Today: Contemporary Visions
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Prints by Los Angeles Artists
Fresno Arts Center and Museum, Fresno, CA, The Years of Passage: 1969-1975
1986 American Center, Paris, France Works from the Collection of the
Frederick R. Weisman Foundation
United States Embassy, Helsinki, Finland, Contemporary Art from Southern CA
1985 Japanese American Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA, Imagine the Future
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, Concerning the Spiritual
Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA, Art Out
Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC, The Artist Views Washington
Stella Polaris Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, LAVA Exhibition
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, Sculpture & Drawing, Drawing & Sculpture
1984 Los Angeles Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, To the Astonishing Horizon
1983 The Museum of Contemporary Art, (MOCA) Los Angeles, CA The First Show
Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA,
Abasha ñ Image Bearing Light
1982 Musee d'Art de la Moderne Ville de Paris, France (Ireland, Poland)
Exchange Between Artists - An Experience for Museums
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Twenty American Artists: Sculpture 1982
1981 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, Directions 81
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA Anti Static
1980 Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT, Southern CA Drawings
Diane Brown Gallery, Washington, DC, International Sculpture Conference Artists
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, Abstract Painting from Southern CA
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, The Weisman Collection
1978 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA Aesthetics of Graffiti
1977 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA Los Angeles
1975 Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA, Four by Four + Four by Eight
Selected Collections and Corporate Commission
Airtouch Cellular, San Francisco, CA
American Embassy, Ottowa, Canada; Namibia; and Nairobi
American Nevada Corporation, Las Vegas, Nevada
American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York, NY
ARCO Corporation, Los Angeles, CA
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Chase Foundation, New York, NY
Consulate General of Japan, Los Angeles, CA
Duke Energy, Houston, TX
Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco, CA
Frederick R. Weisman Company, Los Angeles, CA
Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Gannett Publishing Headquarters, McClean, Virginia
The Gas Company, Los Angeles, CA
The Getty Trust, New York, NY
The Getty Trust, Los Angeles, California
Henri Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Hewlett Packard, Atlanta, Georgia; Japan; Korea; and Zurich
Kilroy Industries, Kilroy Airport, Long Beach, CA
Kinsella, Boesch, Fujiwara and Towle
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Maguire Thomas Partners, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Obayashi America Corporation/The Koll Company, Los Angeles, CA
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
Pacific Enterprises, Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs Museum, CA
Palos Verdes Central Library, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
Sanwa Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Sohio Corporation, Cleveland, OH
Times-Mirror Corporation, New York, NY
Tochigi Health Center, Tochigi Prefecture, Tochigi, Japan
Universal Music, Santa Monica, California
University of Tokyo of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan
Unocal Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Vesti Trust International, Boston, MA
Whitney Museum of Art, New York, N.Y.
Teaching: 1988-Present, Fine Arts Graduate Program, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA
Lita Albuquerque 1629 18th Street Studio #4 Santa Monica, CA 90404, 310-315-1565
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