Institute of Contemporary Art Miami ICA Miami

ICA Miami welcomes artist Rick Lowe to present a lecture on his work. The event is part of the museum’s ICA Speaks program, which highlights the practices of important artists represented in ICA Miami’s permanent collection.

Rick Lowe’s extensive body of work spans painting, drawing and installation, as well as collaborative projects undertaken in the spirit and tradition of “social sculpture.” Working closely with individuals and communities, Lowe identifies ways to exercise creativity in the context of everyday activities, harnessing it to explore concerns around equity and justice. Through such undertakings as Black Wall Street Journey (2018–), a multifaceted citywide project for which he installed an information ticker in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, and Greenwood Art Project (2018–21), where he worked with local artists and others in Alabama to raise awareness of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Lowe has developed a flexible practice centered on nurturing relationships and catalyzing change.

For this ICA Speaks talk, Lowe will discuss a series of accidental events that guided him through three distinct phases of his artistic practice. Lowe will begin with his rejection of formalism for the immediacy of political protest paintings and installations. He will then discuss his work in relation to social practice; and finally, he will discuss his formal abstract paintings, which often depict aerial views of domino games and draw parallels with city maps that depict interconnected neighborhood communities. Tracking the social and aesthetic movements across Lowe’s work, the talk will reveal the “accidents” that led Lowe to each of these forms of practice. 

Now based in Houston, Lowe was born in Russell County in rural Alabama. Among his earliest works are figurative “anti-paintings” derived from the aesthetics and functionality of protest signage. Engaging with issues such as police brutality, homelessness, poverty, and war, among others, these works were produced in collaboration with social justice groups and gatherings including community centers, protest rallies, and conferences.

Lowe is part of numerous collections including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of  American Art, New York; ICA Miami; High Museum of  Art, Atlanta; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Menil  Collection, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the UBS Art Collection. Solo exhibitions include Art League Houston (2020–21). In 2013 President Barack Obama appointed Lowe to the National Council on the  Arts, and in 2014 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Lowe was a Visiting Fellow  at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society from 2019-2021. He also participated in Documenta 14, Athens (2017), the Whitney Biennale (2022) and the 60th Venice Biennale (2024). He is currently a professor of interdisciplinary practice at the University of Houston.

This event is $5 for ICA Miami members at Individual level and above. Non-members can attend for just $15. Members: Access your discounted tickets by entering the email associated with your account.