Collins’s abstractions verge on the fantastical, radiating energy that reflects the impact of extraordinary natural phenomena and a rapidly changing environment on the artist’s inner world. As in her earlier explorations in textile, installation, drawing, and design, Collins’s recent works employ a vivid color spectrum that embodies queer feminist sensibilities while also referencing twentieth-century traditions of abstraction in both painting and fiber art. Drawing from Theosophist visual and spiritual traditions, her imagery explores the idea of the occult as an esoteric precursor to the development of modern abstraction.

At the center of the exhibition is a large-scale tapestry in which rainbows stretch across skies and mountainscapes. Part of her Rainbow Mountains series, the work evokes the emotional and psychological landscape of an artist-activist in the contemporary moment—a state of mind that is at once hopeful, utopian, apocalyptic, and sublime. The title, Floating Lightning Wheel, refers to one of several recurring motifs in the series, appearing alongside lightning bolts, spheres, and fractured mirrors.

Liz Collins works fluidly between art and design, with emphasis and expertise in textile media. Embracing abstraction, optics, and extreme material contrasts, Collins explores the boundaries between painting, fiber arts and installation, intuitively laying bare expressions of energy, emotion, and the viscereality of existence.

LIZ COLLINS (b. 1968 in Alexandria, Virginia) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA and MFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her solo exhibitions and installations have been exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY; the Knoxville Museum of Art, TN; AMP, Provincetown, MA; Touchstones Rochdale, UK; among others. Selected group exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, Leslie Lohman Museum, Museum of FIT, The Drawing Center, BRIC, and Smackmellon — all in New York City, NY; as well as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, CA; ICA/Boston, MA; Addison Gallery at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, NY; Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY; and NoLAB, Istanbul, TR. Collins’ honors include a USA Fellowship, a MacColl Johnson Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts & Artist Relief grants, Drawing Center Open Sessions and residencies at Civitella Ranieri, Siena Art Institute, MacDowell, Yaddo, Haystack, Museum of Arts and Design, Stoneleaf, and currently she is in the Two Trees Cultural Subsidy Studio Program in Brooklyn. In 2020, The Tang Museum released “Liz Collins Energy Field”, her first major publication. Collins is included in Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, curated by Lynne Cooke, at LACMA, a show that will travel to the National Gallery of Art Washington D.C. and The National Gallery of Art Canada, Ottawa, ON, and to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. In 2025, Collins will have a mid-career retrospective titled, Liz Collins: Mischief, at the RISD Museum in Providence, RI with an accompanying monograph.