Lori Nix Explained

Lori Nix
Birth Place:	Norton, Kansas
Nationality:	American
Field:	Sculpture, Photography
Awards:	Guggenheim Fellowship

Lori Nix (born 1969) is an American photographer known for her photographs of handmade dioramas.

Early life

Lori Nix was born in Norton, Kansas in 1969.^[1] She graduated from Truman State University in 1993.^[2] She went on to study photography at the graduate level at Ohio University, and moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1999, where she has lived and worked for almost 20 years.^[3]

Artistic practice

Nix considers herself a "faux landscape photographer", and her work is influenced by extreme weather and disaster films.^[4] She works without digital manipulation, using miniatures and models to create surreal scenes and landscapes, building dioramas that range from 20 inches to six feet in diameter.^[5] They take several months to build, and two to three weeks to photograph. For many years Nix used a large format 8 × 10 film camera^{[6] [7]} but in 2015 she started photographing her dioramas with a digital camera. Nix works with Kathleen Gerber, a trained glass artist, constructing most of the scenery by hand from scratch, using "foam and glue and paint and anything else handy."^[8] After the final photograph is made, Nix harvests the diorama for pieces for future use and then destroys it.^{[9] [10] [11]}

Major projects

Photography

• Empire, 2015–2018. This series is primarily concerned with the exterior spaces of urban structures and landscapes. The detailed photographs show the case of a modern empire after an inexplicable catastrophe: deserted places and half-decayed architectures that are slowly being recaptured by flora and fauna.^{[12] [13]}
• The City, 2005–2013. A post-apocalyptic vision wherein Nix explores what it would be like to be one of the last remaining people living in a city, imagining indoor urban scenes.^[14]
• Lost, 2003–2004. Nix "subverts the traditions of landscape photography to create her own humorously dark world", examining feelings of isolation and loneliness.^[15]
• Some Other Place, 2000–2002. Made after Nix moved to New York in 1999, featured neighborhood sidewalks, city parks, and forays into the wilderness.^{[5] [16]}
• Unnatural History, 2009. A series of tiny dioramas of rooms in imaginary museums, partly inspired by New York's American Museum of Natural History.^{[17] [18]}
• Accidentally Kansas, 1998–2000. Tornadoes, floods, insect infestations, and other bizarre events that featured during her childhood in the American Midwest.^[19]

Video

• A City Severed, 2012. A short film that recreates the 1863 New York City draft riots in miniature, produced with Four Story Treehouse.
• The Story of Sushi, 2012. A short film about sustainable sushi in miniature, produced with Four Story Treehouse.

Publications

• Contact Sheet 117: The Light Work Annual. Light Work, 2002.
• Contact Sheet 119 Lori Nix: Waiting to Happen, Light Work. Light Work, 2002
• Lori Nix: The City. Decode Books, 2013. With an essay by Barbara Pollack.
• Lori Nix. The Power of Nature. Wienand, 2015. .

Solo exhibitions

• 2018: Empire, Galerie Klüser.^[20]
• 2017: Empire, ClampArt.^[21]
• 2016: Lori Nix: The City, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas.^[22]
• 2016: Lost, Galerie Klüser, Munich.^[23]
• 2015: The Power of Nature, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau.^[24]
• 2015: Imagined Worlds, Large and Small, Hillstrom Museum of Art, Gustavus Adolphus College.^[25]
• 2014: The City, Galerie Klüser.^[26]
• 2013: The City, G. Gibson Gallery.^[27]
• 2013: More Photographs From The City, ClampArt.^[28]
• 2013: Unnatural History, Drexel University's Art of Science Gallery.^[29]
• 2012: The City, Bau-Xi Gallery, West Toronto, ON, Canada.^[30]
• 2012: The City, Museum of Art, University of Maine, Bangor, Maine.^[31]
• 2012: The City, Hamilton Gallery, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island.^[32]
• 2011: Unnatural History and The City, CEPA Gallery, Rochester, New York.^[33]
• 2011: The City, Catherine Edelman Gallery.^[34]
• 2011: The City, Flippo Gallery, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia.^[35]
• 2010: The City, ClampArt.^[36]

Collections

• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.^[1]
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.^[37]
• George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
• Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

Awards

• 2014: Guggenheim Fellowship in the US & Canada Competition for Creative Arts Photography.^[38]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Lori Nix | Smithsonian American Art Museum.
2. Web site: Lori Nix | Art Department Blog.
3. Web site: Behind TIME's Smart Home Cover: Meet Artist Lori Nix.
4. Web site: It's like the apocalypse, but smaller. https://web.archive.org/web/20170307140257/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/miniature-models-city-after-apocalypse/ . dead . March 7, 2017 . National Geographic Society. 2017-02-28.
5. Web site: The 'Post-Mankind' Vision of Photographer Lori Nix. Newsweek. 2015-02-09.
6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/lori-nix-the-city_n_1467900.html Huffington Post
7. http://fstoppers.com/lori-nix-shoots-doesnt-take-photos-she-makes-them F-Stoppers
8. Web site: The miniature changes wrought by apocalypse. December 23, 2010 .
9. http://digital-photography.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/conjuring-apocalypse-tabletop-lori-nix-talks-dioramas-0127670/ Digital Photography
10. http://www.homedsgn.com/2011/08/03/the-stunning-surreal-world-of-photographer-lori-nix-video/ HomeDSGN
11. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662890/lori-nixs-stunning-tiny-dioramas-depict-an-abandoned-world-slideshow Fast Co Design
12. Web site: New Miniature Post-Apocalyptic Environments by Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber. 2018-02-15.
13. Web site: These artists create unbelievably detailed miniature apocalyptic scenes. 2018-05-10.
14. Web site: Incredible Photos Show What Post-Apocalyptic America Might Look Like. Business Insider.
15. http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/vexhibit/_PHOTOGRAPHER_Lori__Nix_01/4/0/ Luminous Lint
16. Web site: Dwell.
17. Web site: Unnatural History | VQR Online.
18. Web site: Dioramas Play up the Unnatural Side of Natural History Museums. 2014-04-11.
19. Web site: Light Work Annual. 2000.
20. Web site: NIX/GERBER, 26. APRIL 26. MAI, 2018 . Galerie Klüser . 2020-02-29.
21. Web site: Empire . ClampArt . en-US . 2020-02-29.
22. Web site: Lori Nix · The City . .
23. Web site: LORI NIX, 03 May 18 June 2016 . Gallery Klueser .
24. Web site: Impressum . 1 August 2019 . Museum Schloss Moyland .
25. Web site: Hillstrom Museum to Present New Exhibitions on Feb. 16 . 10 February 2015 . Matt . Thomas . .
26. Web site: Lori Nix The City March 20 May 17, 2014 . Galerie Klüser . https://web.archive.org/web/20140323165319/http://www.galerieklueser.com/exhibitions/lori_nix_the_city . 2014-03-23 .
27. Web site: Lori Nix . 14 October 2013 . G. Gibson Gallery . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131008075738/http://www.ggibsongallery.com/artists/nix/index.html . October 8, 2013 .
28. Web site: More Photographs from "The City" . October 2013 . ClampArt .
29. Web site: 2013 Exhibits. December 18, 2012.
30. Web site: Lori Nix artwork presented by Bau-Xi Gallery Contemporary Fine Art . BauXi Photo . 14 October 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130724033513/http://bau-xiphoto.com/dynamic/artist_photo.asp?ArtistID=227841 . July 24, 2013 .
31. Web site: Lori Nix: The City . . 14 October 2013 . dead . https://archive.today/20131015081621/http://www.umma.umaine.edu/exhibition/future_art/12Jan_Nix.html . October 15, 2013 .
32. Web site: Lori Nix's acclaimed series, 'The City' on exhibit at Hamilton Gallery . . 19 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130502182145/http://www.salve.edu/newsEvents/newsDetails.aspx?Channel=%2FChannels%2FNews+Archive&WorkflowItemID=0f6ede89-4d4e-4269-a2df-ab41eabe7c94 . 2013-05-02 .
33. Web site: Lori Nix June 25 August 27, 2011 . Summer 2011 . CEPA Gallery . Buffalo, NY . https://web.archive.org/web/20110702022713/http://www.cepagallery.org/exhibitions/2011summer/nix/index.html . 2011-07-02 .
34. Web site: Lori Nix . 14 October 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131026010227/http://www.edelmangallery.com/exhibitions/2011/nix/nixshow2011.htm . October 26, 2013 .
35. Web site: 2011–2012 Cultural Arts & Entertainment Calendar . November 2011 . . 14 October 2013 . dead . https://archive.today/20131015081858/http://www.rmc.edu/Offices/marketing-communications/public-events-calendar/November.aspx . October 15, 2013 .
36. Web site: The City . ClampArt . November 2010 . 1 March 2020.
37. Web site: Paradise | All Works | the MFAH Collections .
38. http://www.gf.org/fellows/17643-lori-nix Guggenheim Foundation