Lita Albuquerque: Early Works

La Patinoire Royale Bach presents “Lita Albuquerque: Early Works”, an in-depth exhibition that offers an exciting opportunity to experience several historical installations by the Los Angeles-based, multidisciplinary artist. Albuquerque is known for her poetic use of coloured pigment, rocks and similar natural materials, creating both ephemeral works in the landscape, as well as works on paper, sculptures and paintings. Through her often-monumental installations, she connects the earth to the greater universe, playing with time and space and pushing the viewer to “see ourselves in the relationship to the cosmos”.  TLmag spoke with Valérie Bach about this important exhibition.

TLmag: How did the collaboration with Lita Albuquerque come about? What was the motivation for presenting her work in La Patinoire Royale Bach?

Valérie Bach: A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Lita Albuquerque in Los Angeles. We had planned an exhibition in her presence, but unfortunately the COVID pandemic forced us to postpone our plans. After several years of waiting, we were finally able to reschedule the event, convinced that Lita’s reputation deserved a prestigious place in our exhibition spaces. Indeed, the artist’s work from this period is currently receiving deserved recognition for her contribution to the Californian Light & Space and Land Art movements, with her inclusion in major exhibitions – Light & Space at Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark in 2021, and Groundswell: Woman in Land Art at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas in 2023. This exhibition offers a valuable opportunity to discover these rarely exhibited works, which form the basis of the trajectory of Albuquerque’s later, well-known major works such as, Stellar Axis: Antartica, the Auric Field series of paintings, and the recent video installation, Liquid Light, which was exhibited with bardoLA at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. The result is breath-taking, and Lita occupies the space with unparalleled majesty.

TLmag: Would you introduce us to the exhibition briefly, including the installations it presents, which go back to the artist’s early days?

V.B.: The exhibition focuses on Lita Albuquerque’s early ephemeral works and sculptures. It includes a selection of 12 works that illustrate the artist’s innovative use of her preferred materials, rock and pigment, and how her early practice was uniquely situated at the intersection of the Southern California Light & Space movement and the Land Art movement of the 1970s. After the 1980s, Albuquerque continued to develop her practice of ephemeral works beyond Southern California, creating major works on the Giza Plateau in Egypt, in the Al-Ula Valley in Saudi Arabia and, most notably, on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. It was important for us to give the European public the opportunity to discover the work of this internationally renowned artist, who is still too rarely exhibited in Europe.

TLmag:  The works on view are all from her archive and re-created for La Patinoire Royale Bach? Were certain installations adapted specifically to fit the space? Are the materials new or are also part of the archive (rocks/pigments), which are brought from LA, for example?

V.B.: This solo exhibition offers a deep dive into the artist’s archive. Julien Frydman and I had the privilege of visiting Lita’s archives in Los Angeles and reimagining them in a modified format within the gallery’s large nave. It’s fascinating to learn that the Spine of the Earth installation was originally created in 1980 in the dry lakes behind the mountains east of the Mojave Desert. It has been reconstructed as an installation measuring approximately 13 x 13 meters (43 x 43 feet) for the Brussels exhibition. Materia Prima, another exquisite installation, was initially displayed in 1979 at the Janus Gallery in Venice, and later on a smaller scale, incorporating salt, at Copenhagen Contemporary in 2021. The primary materials (pigments, stones) are sourced directly from the artist’s studio. They have been transported from Los Angeles to Brussels. Lita has spent countless hours creating these installations with the expertise and professionalism of a true artist, all for our enjoyment.

TLmag: Why the focus on historical works?

V.B.: The exhibition is incredibly ambitious. For Lita’s first exhibition at the gallery, we believe it was crucial to present the historical context of her work and establish a solid foundation for her vast and ongoing career.

“Lita Albuquerque: Early Works” will be on view at La Patinoire Royale Bach, Brussels through April 13, 2024.

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