Born in Los Angeles in 1970, Liz Craft belongs to a generation of artists strongly inspired by the libertarian mindset of the West Coast of the United States and heir of the Flower Power movement of the 1970s and that of sexual activism of the 1980s. In the interview given on the occasion of her exhibition, Ms America, at the CEC, from November 5th, 2022, to February 3rd, 2023, Craft looks back on her life and artist journey with her friend and Geneva gallery owner Paul-Aymar Mourgue d’Algue. Craft discusses in particular the importance and influence on her work of the community of artists and synergies created around projects like Paradise Garage, a small gallery founded with Pentti Monkkonen in the garage of their house in Venice, California. Or the Paramount Ranch art fair that she and Monkkonen set up in 2014 with gallery owners Alex Freedman and Robbie Fitzpatrick, and which established strong connections between Los Angeles and the European art scenes. She also talks about the evolution that took place in her practice which went from a monumental to an artisanal production that is overall freer, such as the Pac-Women, the puppet figures presented at her exhibition at the CEC. Liz Craft & Paul-Aymar Mourgue d’Algue. Conversation is the second video in a series of filmed discussions between artists and figures from the art world involved in the CEC’s programming.
Liz Craft (1970, Los Angeles) lives and works in Berlin. Her exhibitions have included those at the Real Fine Arts Gallery, New York, Truth and Consequences, Geneva, Jenny’s, Los Angeles, and at the Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt between 2015 and 2022. Her work has been presented in various solo exhibitions, such as: Me Princess, Kunsthaus Centre d’art Pasquart, Biel (2023); Ms. America, Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva (2022); Cavern, Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt (2022); Do You Love Me Now ? Kunsthalle und Kunstmuseum, Bremerhaven (2022); Escape From New York, Baby Company, New York (2019); QUERELA, Galeria Zé dos Bois, Lisbon (2019); Watching You Watching Me, Jenny’s Gallery, London (2018). She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions: Kreislaufprobleme at Croy Nielsen, Vienna (2019), Tranted Loveat Confort Moderne, Poitiers (2018); Sueurs Chaudes at South Way Studio, Marseille (2017); Medusa. Bijoux et tabous at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris (2017).
Paul-Aymar Mourgue d’Algue (Geneva, 1974) lives and works in New York. He is an independant curator and an art critic.
This project is sponsored by the Federal Office of Culture and the Republic and the Canton of Geneva.
