Lawrence Carroll

Painting and sculpture

Lawrence Carroll’s nuanced body of work is situated between painting and sculpture. Over the course of more than thirty-five years, the artist created a remarkably diverse and rigorous body of work distinguished by a unique poetic presence.

 

From the beginning of his career in the late 1980s, the artist focused his attention on the specific and emotional qualities of painterly media. Modest and simple materials are subjected to an extended, intensive process and contemplation until their “constructedness” almost disappears.

 

Lawrence Carroll draws his inspiration “from observing the inconspicuous [...]. His art is created as a consequence of highly sensitive processes, in which one’s perception, the creative hand, the chosen material and the place of presentation act in harmony, binding together aesthetically."(1)

 

Time plays an important role in Lawrence Carroll’s extensive body of work. Many paintings and sculptures were created over long periods of time, in various studios between Malibu, Marquette, Venice, Bolsena, and New York. Carroll’s works are defined by a respect for the “moment in time” in which they are created.

 

The works’ object-like character attests to the artist’s desire to account for the meaning of the works in space. Carroll’s work thus explores scale and space, the relationship between light and shadow, object and color. "The inspiration for color can come from anywhere and everywhere, from dust, the shadows of a fading light, a bruised leg, a sun-bleached hillside, the black night's sky mirrored on a lake, the waking of a day" observed the artist.(2)

 

Lawrence Carroll developed over a dozen pictorial genres, a kind of private typology of painting. The names of these series of works reference the working process, such as Cut Paintings, Insert Paintings, and Stacked Paintings, or give the paintings a character, as in Sleeping Paintings or Freezing Paintings. The names also reflect the mode of presentation itself, such as Shelf Paintings, Corner Paintings, or Table Paintings.

 

Lawrence Carroll was born in 1954 in Melbourne and died in 2019 in Cologne. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. In 1989, he was invited by Harald Szeemann to participate in the Einleuchten exhibition at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, and in 1992 he took part in Jan Hoet’s documenta IX. In 2013, he participated in the 55th Venice Biennale at the Vatican Pavilion. Important exhibition venues include Power Plant Toronto (1994), Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin (2012), MAMbo Bologna (2014), Kunstmuseum Magdeburg (2017), and Madre Naples (2022).

 

The artist’s works are represented in important collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles (LACMA), the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, the Margulies Collection in Miami, the Jumex Collection in Mexico City, the Panza Collection Varese, and the Wemhöner Collection Herford/Berlin. Buchmann Gallery Berlin/Lugano has represented the artist since 1994 and has presented his work in twelve solo exhibitions.

 

(1) Uwe Gellner on one of Carroll’s last exhibitions, in Lawrence Carroll, As the Noise Falls Away, exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany, 2018, 5.

2) Ibid., 71.

Lawrence Carroll, photo: Lucy Carroll, 2013
Lawrence Carroll, photo: Lucy Carroll, 2013

Selected Works

Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled (Newspaper painting)’, 2018, House paint, wax, newspaper on canvas on wood
Untitled (Newspaper painting), 2018
House paint, wax, newspaper on canvas on wood
Lawrence Carroll, ‘ Untitled (slip painting)’, 2006, Oil, wax, house paint, staples, canvas on wood, 2 painted tarps
Untitled (slip painting), 2006
Oil, wax, house paint, staples, canvas on wood, 2 painted tarps
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled’, 1999-2000, Oil, wax, house paint on canvas on wood
Untitled, 1999-2000
Oil, wax, house paint on canvas on wood
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled (box painting)’, 2008-2019, Oil, house-paint, pencil, wax on canvas on wood
Untitled (box painting), 2008-2019
Oil, house-paint, pencil, wax on canvas on wood
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Sunday Studio Road - 3’, 2019, Archival Ink Jet Print on Velvet Fine Art Paper
Sunday Studio Road - 3, 2019
Archival Ink Jet Print on Velvet Fine Art Paper
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled (yellow painting)’, 2017, Oil, wax, staples, house paint, dust, canvas on wood
Untitled (yellow painting), 2017
Oil, wax, staples, house paint, dust, canvas on wood
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Kunstmuseum Kloster unserer lieben Frauen Magdeburg, 2018’, Installation view, Buchmann Galerie
Kunstmuseum Kloster unserer lieben Frauen Magdeburg, 2018
Installation view
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled’, 2003-2016, Oil, wax, house paint, newspaper, staples, canvas on wood
Untitled, 2003-2016
Oil, wax, house paint, newspaper, staples, canvas on wood
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled’, 2016, Oil, wax, house paint, canvas, staples on wood
Untitled, 2016
Oil, wax, house paint, canvas, staples on wood
Lawrence Carroll, Installation view, Buchmann Galerie, 2017
Installation view
Buchmann Galerie, 2017
Lawrence Carroll, ‘Untitled (cut out and stacked painting)’, 2006-2017, Oil, wax, house paint, canvas on wood
Untitled (cut out and stacked painting), 2006-2017
Oil, wax, house paint, canvas on wood

Gallery Exhibitions

Publications

Lawrence Carroll

Born 1954 in Melbourne, died 2019 in Cologne.

Education
1980 Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1976 - 80 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1974 - 76 Moorpark College, CA
 

Solo Exhibitions

2022
2020
2019
2017
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988

Group Exhibitions

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
Selected Collections

Guggenheim Museum, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego

Margulies Collection, Miami

Hall Collection, Vermont

Rubell Family Collection, Miami
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach

Kunstmuseum Kloster unser lieben Frauen, Magdeburg
Kunsthalle Mannheim

Sammlung Wemhöner, Herford/Berlin, Germany

Schaufler Foundation Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Germany
LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Switzerland

Museo die Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Rovereto MaRT, Italy
Palazzo Ducale, Sassoulo, Italy (permanent installation)

Panza Collection, Mendrisio, CH

Villa Panza, Varese, Italy (permanent installation)
Hotel Des Arts, Toulon, France
La Certosa di San Lorenzo, Padula, Italy              
Es Baluard Museu D'Art Modern I Contemporani De Palma, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

EMMA Museum, Espoo, Finland
Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere Finland

Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Shanghai Long Museum, China

Selected Publications

 

2017 "I have longed to move away. Works 1985 - 2017", Museo Vincenzo Vela, Ligornetto (CH), 5 Continents Editions, texts by David Carrier, Barbara Catoir, Lara Conte, Petra Gilroy-Hirtz, Gianna A. Mina
2015 "Ghost House", MAMbo, Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Corraini Edizioni, Texts: Gianfranco Maraniello, Angela Vettese, Lawrence Carroll (exhib. cat.)
2008 “Lawrence Carroll”, Museo Correr, Venice, Essays by Angela Vettese and Laura Mattioli Rossi (exhib. cat.)
2007 “Lawrence Carroll”, Hotel des Arts, Toulon, France Texts: John Yau, Gilles Alterri
2005 “50 years of documenta 1955-2005: archive in motion-discreet 
energies/diskrete energien”, Kassel, 2005. Text: Michael Glasmeier.
“VISIONI 20 artisti”, Sant Agostino, Bergamo. Text: Marco Meneguzzo.
2004 ACE Gallery Beverly Hills, Essay by Terry Meyers, California (artist cat.)
2003 “Studio La Città”, Essay by Marco Meneguzzo, Verona, (cat.)
2002 “Lawrence Carroll, Getting Lost, Raum der Stille”, Essay by Petra Giloy-Hirtz , Karmelitenkirche München, July 19 – August 15, 2002, (cat.)
“La Collezione Panza: Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza, Varese, Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio, Palazzo Ducale, Sassuolo, Palazzo Della Gran Guardia, Verona,
MOCA, Los Angeles, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Guggenheim Bilbao
 (1st edition)”, Text: Giuseppe Panza
“Le stanze dell’arte”, MART, Rovereto, (exhib.cat)
2001 “Oggi per Domani”, Museo Cantonale d’Arte Contemporanea, Lugano, 2001.
“Il Respiro Nacosto delle Cose”, Studio La Citta, Verona, 2001.
Text: Luigi Meneghelli
2000 “Lawrence Carroll”, Studio La Città, Verona, July, 2000. 
Texts: Bruno Corà, Laura Mattioli
1998 “Lawrence Carroll”, Essays by Johann-Karl Schmidt and Richard Milazzo,
Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Editor Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, 
Johann-Karl Schmidt, (cat.)
“Lawrence Carroll”, Buchmann Galerie Köln, (artist cat.)
1994 “Lawrence Carroll”, Essay by Gerhard Finckh, Städtische Galerie im Museum Folkwang Essen, September 19 – November 6, 1994 
“Lawrence Carroll, Où les choses dorment”, Poem by Rupert Brooke, Domaine de Kerguehennec, France, Mataiea
“Der Stand der Dinge”, Editor Udo Kittelmann, Kölnischer Kunstverein 
1992 “Lawrence Carroll, The Guest Room”, Stux Gallery New York
1988 “Lawrence Carroll”, Essay by Robert Pincus-Witten, Stux Gallery New York