Liane Lang (b. 1972, Germany) studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, received a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London, and earned an MFA from the Royal Academy Schools, London, graduating in 2006. She lives and works in the East End of London. Lang is a mixed media artist whose practice focuses on the conversation between sculpture and photography. She frequently prints images onto unusual materials and objects to explore the tension between the narrative and historical dimension of the image and the texture, scale, and presence of the material world. Lang takes a particular interest in monuments, statues, and historic spaces and employs a wide range of materials from bark, lead, and leather to marble and bronze.
Solo Exhibitions include Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland (2024); Classifier, National Stone Centre, funded by Royal Academy Frampton Fund (2024); Touch Stone, The Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK (2024); Aggregate, Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao (2022); Moot Hall, Barmote Court, Derbyshire (2022); The Maltings, Wirksworth Festival (2022); Memorial Hall, Wirksworth (2021); Glorious Oblivion, James Freeman Gallery (2021); Lian Zhou Festival of Photography, China (2018); Old School, James Freeman Gallery, London (2018); Old School, curated by Marcelle Joseph, Eton College Gallery, UK (2017); Saatchi Gallery (2015); Mem Bilbao Photography Festival, Prize Winner Exhibition (2015); An Idle Brain is Satan’s Shoppe, curated by Marcelle Joseph, House of St Barnabas, UK (2014); Monumental Misconceptions, Rosenberg Gallery, Hofstra University, New York (2013); Fallen, Art First Projects (2013); House Guests, WW Gallery, London, UK (2011); Mesmeric Monument, supported by the British Council, Supernova Gallery, Riga (2010); La Muralla, Public commission, Portobello Road, RBKC (2009); Artist at Apsley, Flora Fairbairn Projects (2008); Fondling Germanicus, Kunstverein Heidelberg (2007).
Group Exhibitions include The New Hero, Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery, CUNY, New York (2023); Unreal, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2023); Roots, with Wency Lam, funded by ACE, Mem Festival, Bilbao, Spain (2023); Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2023); Reasons to Tremble, Management, New York (2023); Salon for a Speculative Future, MOCA London, UK (2023); Power Play, Katherine Oliver Projects, London, UK (2023); Girl Meets Girl, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway (2022); Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2022); Marzana Gallery, Bilbao, Spain (2022); Iasi Museum of Art, Palace of Culture, Russia (2020); On Time and Electric Avenue, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2020); We’re All in this Together, Kunsthalle Tübingen (2019); Nah am Leben, James Simon Gallery, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2019-2020); Heterotopia, Sarean Artspace, Bilbao, Spain (2019); Permanent Collection Display, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2019); From Life, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2018); Magazin 4, Kunstverein Bregenz (2018); The Last Days, German Historic Museum, Berlin, Germany (2013); A Change of Heart, Leicester University Botanic Gardens, UK (2013);
Highlights and Collections
Lang was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 2025. In 2024, she was awarded the Frampton Fund for Sculpture at the Royal Academy and the London Prize, Discerning Eye Exhibition. She is the recipient of the Photofusion Award, the Tooth Travel Award, and the Selina Cheneviere Prize. In 2019, she completed a fellowship at Fundación BilbaoArte in Spain followed by the Elephant Lab Residency and Ampersand Foundation artist in residence in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 she also collaborated with musician Philipp Schlotter on a video, sound and sculptural performance at the Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao as part of the Toparte program. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Royal Academy of Arts (UK); Museum of Modern Art (USA); Victoria and Albert Museum (UK); The Art Institute of Chicago (USA); Arts Council England (UK); Saatchi Collection (UK); Deutsche Bank (Germany); Kunstverein Bregenz (Austria); Kunstamt Spandau; BilbaoArte Fundacion (SP); and Ernst & Young (UK).