Dualistic in imagery, concept and process, Liz Young’s (1958-2020) artwork investigated themes that evoke feelings of loss and an acknowledgement of the inevitability of nature, its beauty and decay. Young tended to make drawings and sculptural objects within thematic bodies of work creating a personal context that is empathetic, dislocated and tender. Themes were awkward juxtapositions and visual conundrums about both nature and culture, private and public and identity and landscape. Her objective was to reconstruct and imitate nature with a sophisticated naïveté, reflecting concerns about the human body and the natural world. Young used processes as varied as traditional art practices to handicraft techniques, always showing evidence of the human hand.
She exhibited her work in galleries and museums, nationally and in Europe. Her work was supported by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), MOCA in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Santa Monica Museum of Art, The Luckman Center, Exit Art and Hallwalls in New York, Molndal Konsthall, Sweden, Long Beach Museum, the Skirball Center, Kappa Museum, Prague, and the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department as well as commercial galleries including Western Project, Andrew Shire, Deep River, and POST. Young received local, state and national grant awards from City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, California Arts Council, a Surdna Fellowship, Art Matters and J. Paul Getty Fellowship. She participated in residencies at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, the Headlands Center for the Art, MacDowell, and the Santa Fe Art Institute. Her works are in many private and public collections including LACMA, Lef Foundation, Greve Foundation, and the Norton Family Foundation. She taught sculpture, art history, and digital arts at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts from 2004 until her death in December 2020.
