Studio Visit | Lori Horowitz
Studio Visit | Lori Horowitz
By Georgette Michael-Duncan
Lori Horowitz, Shrouded (2020). Aluminum wire, spun copper, woven and sewn copper wire. 20 inches (h) by 20 inches (d) by 20 inches (w).
“Everything starts with chicken wire.” Lori Horowitz lifted up a cut piece of the material beside her, explaining, “It weighs nothing, and it costs next to nothing.” Gesturing to a life-sized figure shrouded in gauze behind her, she said, “Nothing I create now weighs more than ten pounds.”
After graduating college, Horowitz began working as a scenic artist and set designer, creating elaborate scenes in the shop windows along Saks Fifth Avenue. Once, she built Marvel’s Spider-Man inside the iconic FAO Schwarz toy store. This is the work she chose to do in order to support her true passion — sculpting. Outside of her job as a set and lighting designer, Horowitz wanders around with her camera and captures the unseen.
Her interest in art began at a young age, starting with painting, but this quickly changed. “I’ve always seen things three-dimensionally,” Horowitz said. Even with painting, she found herself raising the paint off the canvas. As a sculptor, she has dabbled with a variety of materials such as cement, various metals, wax, and even fire. But chicken wire is her “magic material.”
Chicken wire is sturdy; it can be kept inside or outside and it will not rust. After creating a solid base with the chicken wire, Horowitz adorns or fills the sculptures with whatever materials she pleases. In order to master the intricacies of the human form, she has studied Renaissance artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. She has no need for a model or figure drawing classes: “The flow of body language at this point is my vocabulary,” she explained.
Lori Horowitz, Exodus (2020). Mixed-media: fabric, torched copper, aluminum and brass, fiber and photography. Michael David & Co., Bushwick.
Growing up on Long Island with her mother, a probation officer, and her father, a forensic investigator, Horowitz was understanding of the people who remain slightly out of focus. “I became sensitive to the environment I had,” she said, bringing her hand out from her chest in a circular motion. This sensitivity became the catalyst for her sculptures — to bring attention to overlooked situations and environments.
In a large city such as New York, “... People seem not to register things, and working as an artist there made her feel like a ‘small fish in a big pond,’” she stated. But it is in these places, Horowitz finds the people who are unseen, takes their picture, and uses them as references for her artwork.
Due to the quarantine and social distancing safety measures put in place during the pandemic, Horowitz has begun to explore other forms and poses that she finds as she walks through nature. Exodus is based upon the photographs she takes on these walks; their forms are based on root formations that are anthropomorphic in nature. She, “...encourages figures to reveal themselves,” and forms emerge from the earth to convey deeply rooted past struggles and growth.
The figures are shrouded in gauze to symbolize the grief and loss that characterize this time. The shrouded sculptures are based on the figures that are seen within this series of drawings. “Making artwork is to fulfill yourself,” Horowitz told me. Her purpose as an artist is to bring attention to the problems that are avoided to preserve privilege and comfort. She believes that people who are suffering deserve to be seen.
Georgette Michael-Duncan
Georgette Michael-Duncan was born in Danbury, Connecticut, on Thanksgiving morning in 1998. She grew up following her twin sister, Sabrina, and her dog, Lollipop, around with a video camera. She started exploring music at an early age, and upon her graduation from high school in 2016, Duncan was awarded a Certificate of Achievement from the National Music Honors Society. Duncan studied language and literature in Ireland and Puerto Rico while participating in the S.T.E.M program between the years of 2015 and 2016. In the summer of 2020, she studied graphic design in Italy. In the spring of 2020, Duncan was awarded the Excellence Award by the University of New Haven's Graphic Design Department for her “unique design solutions” and “independent thinking.” She is currently pursuing a degree in Graphic Design at the University of New Haven.
