Eliza Douglas (born 1984) is an American contemporary artist known primarily for their paintings and performances, though also works with sculpture and photography. Since the 2000s, she has worked with music with different artists.
Her meta-paintings are often inspired by art, fashion, pop and underground culture. Aside from being an artist, Douglas has also worked as a model for a variety of brands like Balenciaga, Helmut Lang and Vetements.
Early life and education Douglas grew up in the West Village in New York City. Her parents are a lawyer and an elementary school teacher.
She is the great-granddaughter of Dorothy Wolff Douglas, who was a professor of economics and departmental chair at Smith College. Her pieces, Shadow and Light and Blood and Bones are in Dorothy's memory. They were commissioned by and first exhibited at the Jewish Museum, New York.
In 2007, Douglas received a BA in Film Studies from Bard College. Half-way through her second year, she was kicked out of the programme for missing classes. It took her five years in total to finish her undergraduate course. She tried to return to college to study social work, but abandoned that.
From 2015 to 2017, she attended the Städelschule in Frankfurt, where studied with Willem de Rooij. In her first year, she met Anne Imhof at the lobby of Texte zur Kunst’s 25th anniversary gala, and they quickly started a relationship. In 2016, she showed her work for the first time at the Städelschule's "Rundgang". Her work soon gained attention and she became represented by two galleries internationally.
After graduating, Douglas returned to New York, splitting her time between the US and Frankfurt.
Career
Painting Douglas is a painter. Her works are conceptually driven and combine realism, figuration, abstraction, and humour. She has an unconventional approach to painting, bridging abstract painting with technical skill and conceptuality, often questioning authorship and authenticity. Her work is often created in collaboration with other artists. For example, she has previously employed other artists to do more detailed elements of her work. She has also ordered entire compositions of Dafen, China.
She cites Monika Baer and Maria Lassnig as inspirations. Douglas is represented by Air de Paris.
Music and performance An important aspect in Douglas’s work is collaboration, among many they have collaborated with Anne Imhof, Devendra Banhart, ANOHNI, Matteah Baim, Hercules and Love Affair and Puppies Puppies.
Douglas toured with ANHONI for their 2006 European tour ‘TURNING’ Where Eliza appeared as one of the 13 New York City-based women who were featured in the stage show. She also appeared in the subsequent documentary ‘Turning: A Film by Charles Atlas and Antony’ (2012) by Charles Atla. Douglas starred in the music video for ANHONI's 2017 song PARADISE from the EP PARADISE.
Douglas is a frequent collaborator with German artist Anne Imhof. She has been a constant performer in Imhof’s work since 2016, first performing in Angst I at Kunsthalle Basel in 2016 and Angst II at the Hamburger Bahnhof also in 2016. Douglas also co-created the music and performed in Sex, Imhof's 2019 piece for the Tate Modern and Faust, at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, which won the Golden Lion. The Music for Sex was released as a collaborative album in 2021, with shared credit between Anne Imhof, Eliza Douglas and Billy Bultheel. For the 2021 Carte Blanche at Palais de Tokyo, Douglas wrote and produced the music, did the art direction, casting, styling and performed for Imhof's artwork titled Nature Mortes.
Douglas wrote the music and performed the soundtrack for the Burberry 2021 Spring Summer collection presentation.
Modeling Eliza Douglas modeled for the first time when she was 12 years old for Helmut Lang.
In 2016, she was recommended to Lotta Volkova, one of the main casting directors for Demna Gvasalia’s first show with Balenciaga. Douglas’s natural walk interested the creative director and they have modeled for Balenciaga, opening or closing every show since.
For Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2022 show Clones, a CGI production attended by a small crowd, all 44 looks were modeled by Douglas via deepfake or other models with Douglas Photogrammetry-captured and CG-scanned face digitally grafted on.
Personal life Douglas was previously in a relationship and was engaged to artist and collaborator Anne Imhof, and Douglas is often cited as Imhof's muse.
Exhibitions +Solo & DuoYearTitleInstitutionLocationRef.2016I Am All SoulAir de ParisParisMusic, Jo AnneStadelschuleFrankfurt2017Old Tissues Filled with TearsSchinkel PavillionBerlinMy Gleaming Soul, 6 /12 WeeksMuseum FolkwangEssenMy Gleaming Soul / I am a FireballNassauischer KunstvereinWiesbadenEliza Douglas Anne ImhofGalerie BuchholzNew YorkOverduin & Co.Los Angeles2018Eliza DouglasThe Jewish MuseumNew YorkOld Tissues Filled with TearsSchinkel PavillonBerlin2019Josh SmithOverduin & Co.Los Angeles2020Lord of the Fucking WastelandAir de ParisParis2021Notre MortNeue Alte BrückeFrankfurtOverduin & Co.Los Angeles2022Whitney BiennalVI VIIOslo2023Everything DiesMuseum KunstpalastDüsseldorfPAROLE (Eliza Douglas and Lily van der StokkerAir de ParisParis +Selected group showsYearTitleInstitutionLocationRef.2016Summer showAir de Paris, 11 ColumbiaMonacoBeing There cur. Matt Williams, Vilma GoldLondon2017TransitionsRod Bianco galleryOsloCul-de-sacAntenna SpaceShanghaiTherianthropyLaura Bartlett GalleryLondonMonday is a Day Between Sunday and TuesdayTanya Leighton GalleryBerlin2018James FuentesNew YorkHey woman!PresenzaLondonNothing Will Be As BeforeTanya LeightonBerlinThe Seam, the Fault, the FlawGreensponNew YorkThe Vitalist Economy of PaintingGalerie NeuBerlinNightfallMendes Wood DMBruxelles2019MademoiselleCRAC SèteSèteSexTate ModernLondonThe Art Institute ChicagoChicagoNightfallMendes Wood DMBruxellesEliza Douglas / Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo)Galerie Francesca PiaZürichMoreAir de ParisRomainville2020SexCastello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte ContemporaneaTurinMilléniales. Peintures 2000-2020Méca - FRAC Nouvelle-AquitaineBordeauxMy C art ography. The Erling Kagge CollectionSantander Art galleryBoadilla del MonteUps and Downs of a Flipped PlanetGalerie Huber WinterViennaMa cartographie: la collection Erling KaggeFondation Vincent Van GoghArlesStudio BerlinBerghainBerlin<<Fuck You Be Nice>>Air de ParisRomainvilleGreen Go HomeHua International Berlin Show RoomBerlin2021Natures Mortes, Anne ImhofPalais de TokyoParisLust for LifeEdward RessleShanghai2022YOUTH, Anne ImhofStedelijk MuseumAmsterdamBarbe à PapaCAPCBordeaux2023Death and the DevilKunstpalastDüsseldorfCanned HeatContemporary Fine ArtsBerlin2024J’ai pleuré à la fin d’un mangaÉcole Municipale des Beaux-Arts, Galerie Édouard ManetGennevilliers
Performances +YearTitleVenueLocationRef.2004 - 2006Devendra Banhart (Band)Toured USA, Europe, Japan2006Antony and the Johnsons, “Turning”European Tour2007Matteah Baim (Band)MoMA PS1 USAEuropean Tour2016Angst IIHamburger BahnhofBerlinAngstKunsthalle BaselBasel2017Anne Imhof: Faust (Co-curator and performer)German Pavilion, Venice BiennaleVenice2019Anne Imhof: Sex, BMW Tate Live (Performer)Tate ModernLondonANOHNI: SHE WHO SAW BEAUTIFUL THINGS (Performer)The KitchenNew York2020Vape Music | A Concert by Anne Imhof and Eliza DouglasMusée d’Art Moderne de ParisParis
References