Louise Lawler was born in 1947 in Bronxville, New York. She graduated from Cornell University in 1969. Lawler developed her individual style during the early 1980s, a time of intense growth in the overall economy and in the art market. Within this environment material goods were seen as a demonstration of power and financial wealth and artworks became associated with the possession of cultural capital. Lawler began creating mostly photographic works that include images of artworks by other artists as they were displayed within collector’s homes or even within artistic institutions. In this sense, her images become an exploration of the social, economic and environmental factors that shape the definition of the work of art within our culture. By depicting other artist’s works of art within her own, Lawler's images pose an interesting challenge to traditional ideas of originality, authorship, the influence of context in the meaning of a work of art and of the market in its commercialization. Louise Lawler has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions of her work have been held in institutions such as the Wexner Center in Ohio in 2006, Dia Beacon in Beacon New York in 2005, and the Museum for Gugenwartskunst, Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland in 2004. She has also participated in exhibitions in major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of Art in Oslo, and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Lawler has participated in two Whitney Biennials, and her work has been featured in multiple publications. Louise Lawler lives in Brooklyn, New York.