Marie Lorenz (b. 1973, lives and works in New York City) roots her work in exploration and narrative. Since 2002, Lorenz has been traveling various urban waterways in boats she designs and builds, collecting the tidal debris that accumulates in the harbor. From these floating vantage points, the artist cultivates new perspectives of otherwise familiar landscapes. Lorenz makes videos and installations that document and respond to the debris and discarded objects she encounters. Through printing, casting, or videotaping, Lorenz attempts "to un-know the metropolis by continually exploring it." The resulting works act as a visual equivalent of beach-combing and tell the story of the artist’s explorations in “collaboration” with the tide, as well as the connections she forges with her occasional passengers.
Recent solo exhibitions include Waterways, at the Susanne Lemberg Usdan Gallery at Bennington College, Vermont, Tide and Current Taxi, at the Rib Gallery, in Rotterdam. Recent group shows include The Sorcerer’s Burden: Contemporary Art and the Anthropological Turn, at The Contemporary, in Austin, Texas, Wanderlust, at the University of Buffalo Art Gallery, in Buffalo, New York. Lorenz is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee. She received a B.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. from Yale.