Artists Lutz Bacher
Venue University Art Galleries at UC Irvine
Text Monica Majoli
All images Courtesy of University Art Galleries at UC Irvine
Throughout her unorthodox career, Lutz Bacher determined the values that would define her practice and the terms of its circulation. Her surprising decision to undertake a significant, multimedia installation at a university gallery rather than at a museum or high-profile gallery, was committed to at the same moment it spontaneously occurred, during a casual studio visit with me–an artist and longtime friend. Her choice demonstrated her ceaseless drive to stay closely aligned with the freedom that fueled her work.
Taking shape over the seven months before her unforeseen death of a heart attack on May 14th, 2019, the composition of work on view is characteristic of the alchemy that defined Bacher’s enigmatic practice. The particular selection and placement of works in this exhibition—three of the four are new—were determined in totality by the artist. Blue Wave is the final multimedia exhibition she created in a career that spanned over forty years.
