NANCY LORENZ

One craft medium not represented in Objects: USA was lacquer. This East Asian technique involves the methodical application of many layers of urushi (a natural tree sap) over a base, sometimes with the addition of metal leaf, mother-of-pearl, or pigments. Nancy Lorenz’s work is deeply informed by the tradition and associated aesthetics of lacquer. She makes paintings that are essentially abstract but resemble landscape scenes on sliding panels (in Japanese, shoji) or multipaneled screens (byobu), and also creates boxes, mirrors, and furniture in a related idiom.

To realize these works, Lorenz does not use an orthodox lacquer application, but instead creatively adapts it. In her Pour Boxes, for example, she builds up a sculptural layer of gesso and then adds leaf to the surface, creating the illusion of liquid metal flowing across the surface.

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