Hammer Museum

Los Angeles – Luisa Lambri travels the world photographing architectural interiors. Often spending  extended periods of time investigating notable Modernist buildings, her photographs not only capture  the physical topology of these structures but elaborate on the profound psychological and emotional  responses they elicit from their inhabitants. Rather than take a distanced view of an overall structure,  Lambri attends to architectural details—windows, cabinets, closets— necessities that embody the  questions of form and function that engulf any endeavor of design.Perhaps paradoxically, Lambri’s  poetic photographic abstractions are derived from her adamantly straightforward approach to her   subjects, yielding  ot only pictures of buildings but also representing what it feels like to experience architectural space. Over the course of a year, Lambri made several visits to Southern California to  photograph the iconic homes designed by renowned architect John Lautner. Inspired by Lautner’s  desire to connect his buildings to their natural surroundings, Lambri trained her lens on Lautner’s windows. The resulting images move effortlessly between landscape and architectural photography,  exploring the boundaries between the built environment and the natural world. Organized by Douglas  Fogle, Hammer chief curator and deputy director of exhibitions and public programs, the exhibition will  debut a suite of Lambri’s portraits of these important landmarks in 20th century Los Angeles architecture.