Nielsen's work is a contemporary application of one of the best-known avant-garde photographic processes - the photogram - which was first mastered by Man Ray and Maholy-Nagy at the beginning of the twentieth century. Each unique image is created without a camera by placing objects directly onto photographic paper and exposing them to light.
Nielsen started her career as a painter and is a colourist at heart. She calls her work 'painting with light' which refers to the performative nature of its creation. Nielsen replaces the traditional negative with a handmade matrix, built with multiple layers, found light sources and harnessing different wavelengths of the colour spectrum to create rich hues. Creating these pieces can take up to 12 hours per session and up to 100 exposures. The paper she uses is negative rather than positive, reversing the colours and often creating surprising new combinations. 'The final outcomes are pre-planned with strong intention and formally composed,' she explains, 'but because I'm working with light, they always have some surprises. The light bleeds and spills and doesn't want to be contained.'
Liz Nielsen was born in Wisconsin in 1975 and lives and works in New York City. She graduated with a BA in Philosophy and Spanish from Seattle University, a M.F.A. in Photography at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.F.A from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Nielsen is part of this new generation that have returned to the essential elements of analogue photography and its processes as subject matter, reimagining the abstract and painterly potential of the medium. Her work has been exhibited extensively in New York, Chicago, Berlin, Dublin, Budapest, Paris and London.
Nielsen's work was part of the J.P. Morgan Curator's Highlights - "Pictures-In-Play" at Paris Photo Fair 2016. Her recent LA exhibition, I’d Like to Imagine You’re in a Place Like This, was one of Artforum’s cirtic’s picks of 2021. Her exhibitions have also been recently reviewed in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Artslant, the Wall Street Journal and Libération, among others. Liz Nielsen has work in the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection as well as notable private collections internationally.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
"I like to Imagine you're in a place like this", Over the Influence, Los Angeles, California, USA
"Spooky Action", Art Austerlitz, curated by Ryan Turley, Austerlitz, New York, USA
2020
Triangle Moon, SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Small, Black Box Projects, London, UK.
2019
Liz Nielsen: The Arrival, Black Box Projects, London, UK
London Art Fair with Black Box Projects, London, UK
Entanglement, Horizont Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2018
Liz Nielsen: Tracing the Azimuth, May 16 - July 27, 2018, SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Liz Nielsen + Paul Smith Collaboration with Black Box Projects, Paul Smith Global Flagship, Mayfair,
London, UK
Liz Nielsen: Hotspots, Danziger Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2017
PULSE Miami with Danziger Gallery, Miami, USA
Unseen Amsterdam, with Danziger Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
Photo London, with NextLevel Galerie, London, United-Kingdom
Force Fields, NextLevel Galerie, Paris, France
Snake Charmer, Horizont Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2016
The Medium, Danziger Gallery, New York, USA
2015
Night Garden, SOCO Gallery, USA
Magic Lantern, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, USA
Wolf Moon, Denny Gallery, New York, USA
2013
Tiger Teeth: Red Light: Liz Nielsen, Benrimon Contemporary, New York, USA
Blue Shifts, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, USA
2011
LIZ by LINA, Schalter Gallery, Berlin, Germany
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Painting with Light, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY USA
Unseen Amsterdam, Black Box Projects, The Netherlands
Artfare Launch, New York, USA
2018
Launch Exhibition, Black Box Projects, London, UK
Work in Process, The Photographers Gallery, London UK
Liz Nielsen & Dylan Gebbia Richards, April 6 - May 12, 2018, David B Smith Gallery, Denver,
Colorado, USA
Angell Gallery, Toronto Art Fair, Canada
Aspen Art Museum, Art Crush, courtesy of SOCO Gallery
Let There be Light, Angell Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Winter Song, NextLevel Gallery, Paris, France
Lights, Camera, Action, curated by Haley Finnegan at Kunstraum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Usable Space, curated by EddysRoom, Milwaukee, WI
2017
Paris Photo, with NextLevel Galerie, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Women in Color: women and color photography, curated by Ellen Carey, Rubber Factory, New York, USA
Full Bloom II, NextLevel Galerie, Paris, France
VIVE ART BENEFIT curated by Rachel Philips and Anna Ortiz , Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
Painters and Photographers curated by Jamilee Polson, Providence College, Rhode Island, USA
Art Market Budapest, Horizont Galeria, Budapest, Hungary
Aspen Art Museum, Art Crush, courtesy of SOCO Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
Along a River of Saphire Pools, Mountain Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Double Vision, Artists who Instagram, LabSpace, Hillsdale, New York, USA
2016
Pulse Miami Beach Contemporary Art Fair, with Danziger Gallery, Miami, USA
Untitled Art Fair Miami Beach, with Soco Gallery, Miami, USA
Satellite Art Show, with Elijah Wheat Showroom, Miami, USA
Paris Photo, with NextLevel Galerie, Paris, France
Davidson College Gallery, USA
Two person exhibition with Max Warsh, curated by Jessamyn Fiore, Pallas Projects in Dublin, Ireland
Summerzcool, Curated by Austin Eddy and Benjamin Edmiston, Houston, USA
Two person exhibition with Max Warsh, Curated by Jessamyn Fiore, Sirius Art Center, Cobh, Ireland
Spring Break Art Show, curated by Kelly Schroer, New York, USA
Geometric Cabinet, Kristen Lorello Gallery, New York, USA
EddysRoom, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2015
Double Vision, Silver Projects, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Handmade Abstract, BRIC Art Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Hot Slice, Zolla/Lieberman gallery, Chicago, USA
Wonderful Lies, Danziger Gallery, New York, USA
Black and White, Ameringer, McEnery, New York, USA
Project Room, Danziger Gallery, New York, USA
Material Art Fair with LVL3, Mexico
2014
Paris Photo, with Laurence Miller Gallery, Paris, France
Westport Arts Center, Westport, USA
Expo Chicago, Laurence Miller Gallery, USA
Real Time, Future, Experience, New Capital, Chicago, USA
Spring Break Art show, New York, USA
Black and White, La Montagne Gallery, Boston, USA
2013
Art Untitled Benrimon Contemporary, Miami, USA
2012
Fractal Semblance, Roots & Culture, Chicago, USA
NADA Miami, Rawson Projects, USA
Fictitious Truths, Curated by Kara Rooney, Rooster Gallery, New York, USA
Anderson, Murphy, Nielsen, New Capital Projects, Chicago, USA
People Who Work Here, Curated by Rawson Projects, David Zwirner gallery, New York, USA
First Love, Curated by Angela Bryant, O'Connor Gallery, Dominican University, River Forest, USA
2011
Color: Fully Engaged, curated by Jamilee Polson, A & D Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, USA
Juried Auction, NURTUREart hosted by the Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA
2010
Feeble Intimacy, LVL3, Chicago, USA
COLLECTIONS
J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation
RESIDENCIES, AWARDS, & GRANTS
2016
Budapest Art Factory, Hungary
Orange County Relocation Grant, Newburgh, New York, USA
2011
Dave Brown Art Prize
2005
CAAP Grant, Chicago, Illinois, USA
VISITING ARTIST LECTURES & WORKSHOPS
2018
SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC
International Center of Photography, Teen Academy, New York, USA
2017
Unseen Living Room, Unseen Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016
Knockdown Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Penn State, State College, PA, USA
Sirius Art Center, Cobh, Ireland
FASHION COLLABORATION PROJECTS
Paul Smith Design, with Black Box Projects, Mayfair, London, UK
Hermes Parfumerie, with art director Cory Jacobs, New York City, New York, USA
R`edinery 29, New York City, New York, USA
Stevan Alan, Chelsea, New York City, New York, USA
Salvatore Ferragamo, Chicago, Illinois, USA