About
Biography
MARGARET LANZETTA is a New York-based artist using abstract, culturally significant pattern to explore larger issues of language, political power, spirituality, and migration.
Lanzetta has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, in the Queens Museum Biennial, Kenise Barnes Fine Art; Jason Andrew, Norte Mar venues; Elizabeth Heskin Gallery and Main Window all in New York. International exhibitions include the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Collateral Projects, India; the National Museum, Bangkok, Thailand (pop-up, solo); 2nd Bloom, Singapore; Famous Ornament, Tokyo; Reign Marks, Rabat, Morocco; Rome, ATP Gallery, London; and the Stockholm Independent Art Fair. Honors and awards include three Fulbright Fellowships, including an inaugural Global Award to India/Singapore/Thailand, 2016-19, and India /Syria, 2007-8; the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation; the British Academy in Rome; Greenwich House Pottery; Dieu Donné Papermill; and a permanent MTA Art Commission for the New York subway. Lanzetta received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her works are held in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Yale University Museum; and the Harvard Museums. Press about her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, ArtCritical.com, Two Coats of Paint, and several Indian and Asian online and print venues. Lanzetta divides her studio time between New York and various studios in India, Morocco and Japan.
Back to Top
Exhibition at Clemente Center, New York. on wall: Future Ready, acrylic, rayon, sari fabric and Monkey Applause, acrylic,rayon, cotton bedsheet, sari fabric. On pedestal, ceramic crown: Joffrey, porcelain and black mason stain.
Artist Statement
My work generally involves investigating cross currents of world decorative traditions in relation to contemporary cultural, political, and environmental narratives. I combine globally-sourced, patterned textiles with painting, silkscreening and digital technology to create tactile works that meld geopolitics with centuries-old motifs.
Resisting conventional painting techniques, and mimicking the insistent, accumulative process of weaving, I repeatedly silkscreen digitally manipulated stripes, florals and zigzags on surfaces of collaged textiles. The resulting patterned, textured surfaces, formed by accumulation, also reference modern painting traditions such as the grid, op art, the formalism of Minimalism, and the Pattern and Decoration movement.
Works range from silkscreened and collaged paintings, wall installations of botanical imprints and cropped Islamic mosque floor plans, to porcelain royal crowns with their politically nefarious decorative patterning. Approximating a cultural dialogue, the works offer a sense of hope in an otherwise globalized cacophony of cultures and religions.
My transcultural influences stem from years of living and working as an artist in India, Japan, Southeast Asia, and North Africa. Buddhist iconography and meditation practices, Islamic trance-like geometry, chromatically exuberant crafts, and notions of hybridity and migration embedded in textiles continually inform my work. I thrive on making art in places of great beauty and spiritual inspiration.
..
Résumé
MARGARET LANZETTA
EDUCATION
School of Visual Arts, NYC MFA
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA. BA Fine Arts
SOLO/TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2021
Russell Janis Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Almost Enlightenment
Almost Enlightenment Panel Discussion with Madeleine Viljoen, Curator of Prints & Photographs at New York Public Library, Artist Julia Kunin and Janis Stemmermann, Creative Director / Printmaker at Russell Janis
2020
Norte Maar/Mark Morris Dance Center, New York, Strategy Royale , commission for Counter Pointe 8; Collaboration with choreographer Mari Meade
2019
National Museum of Bangkok, Thailand: Another Global City (Artist lecture and pop-up exhibition)
The Clemente Center, New York: Open Doors, with Jodie Manasevit, invited by Elisabeth Condon.
2018
Windows-On-Main, Brooklyn, New York: Smart Luck Road, (site specific installation)curator: Beth Dary
INSTINC, Singapore: Second Bloom
2016-17
Kochi-Muziris Biennale Collateral Projects, India: Folded Language, a site specific installation. curator: Tanya Abraham
2015
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, New York: The Chanteuse and A Loaded Gun
2015
Heskin Contemporary, New York: Blues For Allah
2013
Youkubo Art Space, Tokyo: Famous Ornament
2012
Le Cube Gallery, Rabat, Morocco: Reign Marks
Gwarlingo Art Journal: Utopia Minus Project, online collaboration with Poet Susan Briante
Galerie du Jardin des Biehn, Fes, Morocco: Seven Types of Terrain, Lanzetta: Paintings and Textiles from the Collection of Michel Biehn
French Institute Gallery, Fes, Morocco: Land Farthest West
Fes.Morocco: Studio
2010
Cantor Gallery, Worcester, Ma.: Pet the Pretty Tiger: Works 1990-2010. Curator: Carol Schwarzman. Essays by John Yau and Judy Halebsky.
2009
PS 1 MoMa New York: Studio Visit
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, New York: how to live elsewhere
2006
Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston: Vapor Trail
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, New York: Plaisir
2004
Queens Museum: World's Great Age, New York, site specific commission for the Queens International,
2002
University of Southern Maine, Portland: The Strangeness of Beauty
2001
New York Meatpacking Studio: Blood River
Deborah Berke Architects, New York: Papernapkin Smirk
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Project ARTSpace, New York, Anywhere But Here
Gillette Gallery, Garrison, NY, Upside Down and Inside Out
2023
WhiteBox, New York: Off the Cloth 2, curators: Karen Cordero Reiman and Yohanna M. Roa
2022
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Abstract Ideas: Abstract Art from the Collection
Planthouse, New York: Carnival
2021
ChaShaMa 81 Essex, New York: Houston, We Have a Problem, curator: David Packer
Ojas Gallery, New Delhi, India: Reciprocations: American Fulbright Artists and Indian Connections, curated by Kathryn Myers.
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, CT: Cool and Collected ‘21 with Jill Parisi and Gabe Brown
2020
The Hewitt Gallery of Art, Marymount College, New York: Changing Lanes: Painters Explore Dimensions in Clay. Curator: Judy Mannarino
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, New York: Let the Sky Soak In, with Stephen Maine, Elizabeth Gourlay
2019
Clemente Soto Velez Center, New York: Among Friends. Curators: Beth Dary, Alexi Brock and Patricia Fabricant
2018
Russell Janis Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn: Potters and Printmakers, 2017
Museum of Modern Art, New York: Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983
The first major exhibition to fully examine the scene-changing, interdisciplinary life of this seminal downtown NY alternative space
2016
Greenwich House Pottery, New York: Ceramics Now with Sheila Pepe, Halsey Rodman, and Giselle Hicks
SPRING/BREAK, New York's curator-driven Art Fair: Portable Mind
Washington D.C. Project for the Arts: Mirror, Mirror: Art Meets the Monsters
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, New York: Flower Power, with Cara Enteles, David Koninsberg and Mary Judge,
2015
CLIPBOARD Durbar Hall Art Centre, Kochi, India curator: Shijo Jacob
Norte Maar 1285 Ave of the Americas Gallery: between a place and candy: new works in pattern + repetition + motif. Curator: Jason Andrew
Art Helix, Bushwick, NY: Type Indicators.. Curator: Wilson Duggan
2014
Curatorium, Hudson, NY: PULL: Chronically Undifferentiated. Curator: Robert Godfrey
2013
Le Cube Gallery, Rabat, Morocco: SuperMarket 2013 at the Stockholm Indpendent Art Fair
Cantor Gallery, Worcester, Ma: Spark. Curator: Roger Hankins
2012
Heskin Contemporary, New York: Place Angle Position
Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York: Permanent Collection. Curator: Edward del Rosario
Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, New York : Super Saturated:Pattern and Pigment. Curator: Kenise Barnes
2011
Small Black Door Gallery, Bushwick, NY: The Unfunny Show. Curator: Mattrew Fisher
Rockland Center for the Arts, NY: Flowers, Follies and Other Rites of Spring. Curator: Kenise Barnes
International Print Center, New York: New Prints 2011:WINTER
2010
Local Projects Gallery, New York: Autosemblematic. Curator: Jennifer Junkermeier
Nicolaysen Museum of Art, Wyoming: Ucross: 27 Years of Art. Curator: Lisa Hatchadorian
2009
Gallery Satori, Lower Eastside New York: Fresh Asphalt. Curator: Eun Young Choi
Dean Projects and Crossing Art Gallery, New York: Rococo Pop
2008
New Editions/Artists Book Fair, Jean-Yves Noblet Editions, New York
2006
Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts: Global Pop. Curator: Joseph Carroll
2005
Minnesota Center for Art, Minneapolis: Plane and Form
Average Industries Gallery, Art Basel, Miami: All Terrain
APT Gallery, London, UK: Private View
2004
Dieu Donne Papermill, New York: New Projects
2003
British Academy in Rome, Italy: The Fine Arts
2001
Dieu Donne Papermill, New York: Remix. Curator: Edwin Ramoran
2000
Weatherspoon Art Museum, North Carolina: Art on Paper 2000
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin: 25 Years of Dieu Donne Paper
Karen McCready Fine Art, New York: Six Abstract Painters
Mason Gross Arts Gallery, Rutgers University, New Jersey: Paper Trail
FELLOWSHIPS,RESIDENCIES, COMMISSIONS
2020
Strategy Royale, commission for NORTE MAAR’s Counter Pointe 8 dance performance. Collaboration with choreographer Mari Meade
2016-2019
Inaugural Senior Fulbright Global Fellowship to India, Singapore and Thailand
2018
VCCA, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency
INSTINC Art Residence, Singapore
Le Cube Guest Artist, Rabat, Morocco
2016
Artist-in-Residence, Greenwich House Pottery, New York
Kashi Art Residency, Fort Kochi, India
2015
Commissioned art for Mirror Mirrored: A Contemporary Artists' Edition of 25 Grimm's Tales. Editors: Michelle Aldredge and Corwin Levi, Gwarlingo Press
2013
Youkubo Artist Residency, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Ucross Foundation Artist Residency, Wyoming
2007-8
Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship to India and Syria see images:
2007
Culture Swirl, Permanent commission for the NYC Subway for the MTA Arts for Transit Program
2007, 2004, 2001
The MacDowell Colony Residencies
2003
British Academy in Rome: Abbey Fellowship in Painting
1998-99
Dieu Donne Papermill Workspace Residency Grant
Selected Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The British Museum, London, UK
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
The Harvard University Art Museum, Massachusetts
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
The New York Public Library
Werner Kramarsky
New York University Medical Centers
Northern Illinois University
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa
Amerada Hess Corporation, New York
Press
2023
Italianità, The Essence of Being Italian, editor: Joanne Matera
2021
SVA Visual Arts Journal: Beyond Definition: The Traditional, Radical, Multitudinous World of Ceramic Art, Diane McClure
2017
The Language of the Sari, The Hindu National, Priyadershini S
In the Spirit of Enquiry, Kerala Review
Indulge: Art in Kochi New Indian Express, Arya P Dinesh
2016
Romanov Grave Art Journal: One Question,One Answer by Bonnie Rychlak
2015
Muftah.org: Blues For Allah: Reflections on Patterns Across Time & Space,
by Anna Jacobs and George Bajalia
2014
Gallery Travels: Blues For Allah at Heskin Contemporary by Anne Russinof
Mockingbird Blog: Margaret Lanzetta Painting by Steve Gibson
2012
The Brooklyn Rail: Margaret Lanzetta, Reign Marks by Carol Schwarzman
Diptich Magazine, Casablanca: A Fes Inspire des Artistes New-Yorkais, by Syham Weigant
A View From Fez: Superb Art in the Fes Medina by Susanna Clarke
Babelfan, Morocco: Reign Marks by Carine Adam-Destang
2011
Two Coats of Paint: Sneaky Fun in Ridgewood-The UnFunny Show by Sharon Butler
Bushwick Daily: I Heart Ridgewood-The UnFunny Show, by Katarina Hybenova
2010
ArtCritical.com: A Post Modern Garden: The Work of Margaret Lanzetta by John Yau
catalog essay: Ways to Leave Home by poet Judy Halebsky
2006
560 Broadway: The New York Drawing Collection of Werner Kramarsky editor, Amy Eshoo
2006
Hand Papermaking Journal, review: Vapor Trail, Bernard Toale Gallery, by editor: Mina Takahashi
The Boston Globe,review: Global Pop: We ARE What We Buy, by Cate McQuaid. Oct 12
The Victoria and Albert Museum Publications: Prints Now, Directions and Definitions, by Gill Saunders,Rosemary Miles
Hand Papermaking Journal: Plane and Form at Minnesota Center for Arts, review: K. Searle,
2003
The Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Libraries Journal UK: Collecting the Contemporary by Gill Saunders
La Republica Rome: Cosi La Mostra, by Mario de Candia. June 20
2002
CRIA Foundation, Unframed, Artists Respond to AIDS,editor: Manuel Gonzales
2000
The New York Times: Six Abstract Painters, review by Ken Johnson. July 2
Teaching/Lectures
2023
University of Connecticut, Visiting Artist, MFA Department
Eastern Connecticut College and St Joseph’s College, Ct Visiting Artist
2022
British Academy in Rome: Visiting Artist Talk
2019
National Museum of Bangkok, Thailand: Artist lecture and pop-up exhibition
2018
La Salle College of Art, Singapore: visiting artist
2017
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kannur, India: visiting artist and lecturer
TAOS, The Art Reach Society, Kochi, India: printmaking workshops
2015
Pace University, New York, visiting lecturer
2014
Artist Talk at the Elizabeth Foundation, New York: Contents May Have Shifted
2010
College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts visiting artist
2008
University of Baroda, India, visiting lecturer
Institute of Art and Design, Jaipur, India visiting lecturer
2006
Makor-Steinhardt Center, NYC “Beauty’s Burden” panel, moderator: David Gibson
2005, 2000, 2001
Western Carolina University, professor, MFA program
Asheville Museum of Art, North Carolina, public lecture
2000
The Isamu Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, staff lecturer
Other Education
Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Germany 1989-90
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine 1981
Parsons School of Design, New York City 1979-80
Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy 1978
Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy 1977
Back to Top
Collections
Selected Public Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York
British Museum, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The New York Public Library Print Collection
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Northern Illinois University Museum, Dekalb
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa
The Hallmark Fine Art Collection, Kansas City
Amerada Hess Corporation, New York
New York University Medical Centers
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusets
Selected Private Collections
Kenise Barnes, New York
Mary Kathryn Brown, Arkansas
Pamela Butler, New York
Susan Drew, Los Angeles
Bill and Jodi Gorin, New York
Dawn and Chuck Hendricks, New York
Barbara Kelly, Canada
Barbara and Roger Kohin, Worcester
Patti Kraft, Boston
Werner Kramarsky, New York
Richard Landy, New York
Leslie and Michael Meyers, New York
Jean-Yves Noblet, New York
Loan Pham, New York
Tunde and Sunder Reddy, New York
Janet and John Robinson, New York
Natasha and Ross Taylor, Australia
Nancy Tepper, New York
Bruce and Naomi Usher, New York
Dan Cullen and Mary Chris Welch, New York
Jennifer Kroman and David Wermuth, New York
Niall Worn, Germany
Lori and Barry Kupferberg
Elisabeth Pisternak, Rabat, Morocco
Nawal Slaoui, Casablanca, Morocco
