Apr
09
Lectures and Workshops

Graduate Art Seminar: Jan Tumlir presents Lucy McKenzie

Friday, April 09, 2021

10:30 am Add to Calendar



Lucy McKenzie
Brussels-based visual artist, Lucy McKenzie (b. 1977 Glasgow) works with commercial, public and domestic space, exploring the ways in which these interlocking realms shape both the content and reception of visual art.

As a student at Bogaerts International School, Brussels, McKenzie mastered the decorative techniques of faux marble, simulated wood, and trompe l’oeil, idioms she continues to marshal to critical purpose in her art. Since 2011, McKenzie has collaborated with designer Beca Lipscombe, creating fashion collections under the name Atelier E.B.. The label explores alternative methods of producing, exhibiting, documenting, and distributing fashion. 

McKenzie has had solo shows at institutions including Tate Britain, London, 2003; MoMA, New York, 2008; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2013; and Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Venice, 2017. Her midcareer survey, Prime Suspect, is currently on view at the Museum Brandhorst, Munich.  

In 2014 the artist obtained De Oieevaar, a modernist villa in Oostende, Belgium with the purpose of restoring its 1930s interiors and transforming the building into an ‘artist's house' dedicated to residencies, exhibitions and projects around art and design.

Jan Tumlir 
Jan Tumlir is an art-writer and teacher who lives in Los Angeles. He is a founding editor of the art journal X-TRA, and a regular contributor to Artforum and Frieze. He has written catalog essays for artists including Bas Jan Ader, Uta Barth, John Divola, Cyprien Gaillard, Allen Ruppersberg and James Welling. Books include: LA Artland, a survey of contemporary art in Los Angeles co-written with Chris Kraus and Jane McFadden (Black Dog Press, 2005); Hyenas Are…, a monograph on the work of Matthew Brannon (Mousse, 2011); The Magic Circle: On The Beatles, Pop Art, Art-Rock and Records (Onomatopee, 2015); and a forthcoming collection of conversations with Jorge Pardo, due to appear from Inventory Books this year. Tumlir has served as an MFA advisor at ArtCenter College of Design since 1999. Past teaching appointments have brought him to UCLA, UCR, USC, CalArts, Otis College of Art and Design, and most recently to Washington University in Saint Louis as a Wallace Herndon Smith Distinguished Professor of Art.

Photo credit: Lucy McKenzie, Pleasures Inaccuracies, Sudbury Town station, 2020. Commissioned by Art on the Underground. Photo GG Archard, 2020.


The Graduate Art Seminar is a forum for graduate students and members of the ArtCenter community to enter into dialog with internationally recognized artists, critics, and art historians. The Seminar is a core component of ArtCenter's Graduate Art program. The Seminar is also free and open to the public.

ArtCenter's Graduate Art program is based on intensive studio practice and rigorous academic coursework. The program is distinguished by its low faculty-to-student ratio that provides students with the attention and feedback they need to refine and achieve their artistic goals. Faculty and students are artists working in all genres—film, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and installation. A significant number of alumni have achieved national and international acclaim and often return to share their insights and expertise as visiting faculty and guest lecturers.