“'Crystalline,' ‘woven,' or ‘vegetal' would be some of the terms one might use to describe [Larner’s] works. Natural history comes to mind, but also the latest product technology and science fiction. It is interesting to see how Larner, in her very unique sensitivity, began to set herself apart from other protagonists of contemporary sculpture, finding a position all of her own in the process. She delved deeply into the materials, eliciting idiosyncratic narratives, often with wit, sometimes with a certain drama.”

— Peter Pakesch, "Material and Painting in Sculpture: On the Ceramic Works of Liz Larner" in Liz Larner, 2016 (Galerie Max Hetzler and Holzwarth Publications)

Liz Larner (b. 1960) received her BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1985. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Larner’s work will be the subject of a solo museum exhibition at SculptureCenter in New York in January 2022 and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis in April of 2022. A solo presentation of her work will be held at Kunsthalle Zurich in summer 2022. Previous solo and two-person museum exhibitions include Aspen Art Museum (2016); Art Institute of Chicago (2015); Two or Three or Something: Maria Lassnig, Liz Larner, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2006); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2001); I Thought I Saw a Pussycat, MAK—Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (1998); and Kunsthalle Basel (1997).

Group exhibitions featuring Larner’s work include New Time: Contemporary Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, opening in fall 2021 at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; Seven Stations: Selections from MOCA’s Collection, currently at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Foundation of the Museum: MOCA's Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2019); Damage Control, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2013); Blues for Smoke, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2012); Under Destruction, Museum Tinguely, Basel (2010); the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville, The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society (2006); and Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1992). She was featured in two Whitney Biennials (2006, 1989).

She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Mutina This Is Not a Prize (2018); the Nancy Graves Foundation Grant (2014); Smithsonian American Art Museum Lucelia Artist Award (2002); Anonymous Was a Woman (2000); and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1999).

Work by the artist is held in prominent international collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin; Dallas Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; MAK—Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna; Milwaukee Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.