Trailer
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About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
Within Liza Lou’s Trailer lies a glimmering, gruesome mystery. The misleadingly familiar mobile home contains a series of rooms, all encrusted in glass beads in varying shades of black, silver, gray, and white. Signs of day-to-day life, such as a stack of dishes, magazines, and a guitar leaning by a couch, are interspersed with more ominous props: a gun on the wall, an open bottle of whiskey, and a menacing note. As the television plays the classic crime film Force of Evil (1948), a feeling of unease sets in. Your eyes may adjust enough to the dazzling, disorienting environment to notice a man’s leg in the bedroom.
The artist has given viewers the heart-stopping experience of walking into a crime scene. The tone of the work is a shift from Lou’s broader practice: other works also reveal her mastery of intricate beadwork but tend to be visually and emotionally brighter. Unique for the artist in its absence of color and dire subject, Trailer offers a riveting, immersive experience to any who dare to peer inside.
Caption
Liza Lou American, born 1969. Trailer, 1998–2000. Glass beads, velvet, wood, wire, plaster, found objects, electrical parts, 120 × 96 × 420 in. (304.8 × 243.8 × 1066.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sherry and Joel Mallin, 2022.24. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: (Photo: Tom Powell Imaging), 2022.24_detail03_Tom_Powell_Imaging.jpg)
Tags
Collection
Collection
Artist
Title
Trailer
Date
1998–2000
Medium
Glass beads, velvet, wood, wire, plaster, found objects, electrical parts
Classification
Dimensions
120 × 96 × 420 in. (304.8 × 243.8 × 1066.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Sherry and Joel Mallin
Accession Number
2022.24
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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