Liza Lou burst upon the contemporary art scene with a 1996 show at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art featuring her environmental sculpture Kitchen, an extravagant monument to women's simple, everyday labor. Lou's kitchen was transformed by millions of brightly colored, shiny glass beads covering every surface.

For Liza Lou, Back Yard was a logical extension of Kitchen, for "standing in front of the sink, what do you see? The back yard." Say Lou. "I've always been inspired by the suburbs. This is really my landscape," says Liza Lou, who was born in New York City but moved as a child to Southern California. "With 50,000 square miles of lawn in this country, the lawn truly is a symbol of America."

Back Yard is 600 square feet of glistening lawn with a picnic table, checkered table cloth, clothesline and iconic barbecue grill. It was part of the exhibition American Glamorama" by Lou that opened in June of 1999 in Grand Central Stations former Main Waiting Room.

Sandra Bloodworth, Director of MTA Arts for Transit, adds, "Liza Lou's magnificent sculptures transform popular cultural icons into extraordinary objects creating a visual experience which dazzles the eye."

Lou has also created the series American Presidents, a portrait gallery of the presidents rendered in beads. This is Liza Lou's tongue in cheek reference to the purchase of Manhattan island from the native inhabitants for $24 worth of beads, and a spoof of traditional portraiture.

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