Presented By: Penny W Stamps School of Art & Design
Penny Stamps Speaker Series - Rick Lowe
In Spite Of
Rick Lowe is an American artist who pairs paintings, drawings, and installations with collaborative, community-based projects developed in the tradition of Joseph Beuys’ concept of “social sculpture.” Working closely with individuals and communities, he has identified many ways to harness creativity to address concerns around equity and justice. Beginning with his co-founding of Project Row Houses (1993–2008) in Houston’s Third Ward and continuing through other initiatives across the United States and internationally, Lowe aims to catalyze sustainable change to promote understanding, equity, and justice.
In his studio-based practice, Lowe combines painting and collage to develop works—often at an expansive scale—that take an exploratory approach to geography and abstraction. Inspired in part by patterns of domino games that he plays to engage with community members worldwide, he notes correspondences between the dense, layered arrangements of domino tiles and maps of urban districts. The vibrant paintings that emerge suggest cartographic configurations and transformations of civic structures and relationships over time.
Born in Russell County, Alabama, Lowe lives and works in Houston. Since 2016, he has taught at the University of Houston’s College of the Arts as a professor of interdisciplinary practice. Among his many honors, he received the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities in 2002, was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2014, and was the Roy Lichtenstein Artist in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in 2024.
Lowe has been working as part of the U-M Arts Initiative’s Creators on Campus program as artist in residence with the Institute for Social Research (ISR) over the last two years, collaborating with students and researchers in preparation for his upcoming exhibition at UMMA. The exhibition, featuring his ongoing project, Black Wall Street Journey, will open in August 2026.
Presented in partnership with the Institute for Social Research, Arts Initiative, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
In his studio-based practice, Lowe combines painting and collage to develop works—often at an expansive scale—that take an exploratory approach to geography and abstraction. Inspired in part by patterns of domino games that he plays to engage with community members worldwide, he notes correspondences between the dense, layered arrangements of domino tiles and maps of urban districts. The vibrant paintings that emerge suggest cartographic configurations and transformations of civic structures and relationships over time.
Born in Russell County, Alabama, Lowe lives and works in Houston. Since 2016, he has taught at the University of Houston’s College of the Arts as a professor of interdisciplinary practice. Among his many honors, he received the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities in 2002, was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2014, and was the Roy Lichtenstein Artist in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in 2024.
Lowe has been working as part of the U-M Arts Initiative’s Creators on Campus program as artist in residence with the Institute for Social Research (ISR) over the last two years, collaborating with students and researchers in preparation for his upcoming exhibition at UMMA. The exhibition, featuring his ongoing project, Black Wall Street Journey, will open in August 2026.
Presented in partnership with the Institute for Social Research, Arts Initiative, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
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