Eliza Douglas

Aside from being an artist, Douglas has also worked as a model for a variety of brands like Balenciaga, Helmut Lang and Vetements.

• Born — 1984 • Birthplace — New York City • Known for — * Painting • Music • Modeling • Education — * Bard College • Städelschule

Douglas grew up in the West Village in New York City. Her parents are a lawyer and an elementary school teacher. She is the great-granddaughter of Dorothy Wolff Douglas, who was a professor of economics and departmental chair at Smith College. Her pieces, Shadow and Light and Blood and Bones are in Dorothy's memory. They were commissioned by and first exhibited at the Jewish Museum, New York. In 2007, Douglas received a BA in Film Studies from Bard College. Half-way through her second year, she was kicked out of the programme for missing classes. It took her five years in total to finish her undergraduate course. She tried to return to college to study social work, but abandoned that. From 2015 to 2017, she attended the Städelschule in Frankfurt, where studied with Willem de Rooij. In her first year, she met Anne Imhof at the lobby of Texte zur Kunst’s 25th anniversary gala, and they quickly started a relationship. In 2016, she showed her work for the first time at the Städelschule's "Rundgang". Her work soon gained attention and she became represented by two galleries internationally. After graduating, Douglas returned to New York, splitting her time between the US and Frankfurt.

Douglas is a painter. Her works are conceptually driven and combine realism, figuration, abstraction, and humour. She has an unconventional approach to painting, bridging abstract painting with technical skill and conceptuality, often questioning authorship and authenticity. Her work is often created in collaboration with other artists. For example, she has previously employed other artists to do more detailed elements of her work. She has also ordered entire compositions of Dafen, China. She cites Monika Baer and Maria Lassnig as inspirations. Douglas is represented by Air de Paris.

An important aspect in Douglas’s work is collaboration, among many they have collaborated with Anne Imhof, Devendra Banhart, ANOHNI, Matteah Baim, Hercules and Love Affair and Puppies Puppies. Douglas toured with ANHONI for their 2006 European tour ‘TURNING’ Where Eliza appeared as one of the 13 New York City-based women who were featured in the stage show. She also appeared in the subsequent documentary ‘Turning: A Film by Charles Atlas and Antony’ (2012) by Charles Atla. Douglas starred in the music video for ANHONI's 2017 song PARADISE from the EP PARADISE. Douglas is a frequent collaborator with German artist Anne Imhof. She has been a constant performer in Imhof’s work since 2016, first performing in Angst I at Kunsthalle Basel in 2016 and Angst II at the Hamburger Bahnhof also in 2016. Douglas also co-created the music and performed in Sex, Imhof's 2019 piece for the Tate Modern and Faust, at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, which won the Golden Lion. The Music for Sex was released as a collaborative album in 2021, with shared credit between Anne Imhof, Eliza Douglas and Billy Bultheel. For the 2021 Carte Blanche at Palais de Tokyo, Douglas wrote and produced the music, did the art direction, casting, styling and performed for Imhof's artwork titled Nature Mortes. Douglas wrote the music and performed the soundtrack for the Burberry 2021 Spring Summer collection presentation.

Eliza Douglas modeled for the first time when she was 12 years old for Helmut Lang. In 2016, she was recommended to Lotta Volkova, one of the main casting directors for Demna Gvasalia’s first show with Balenciaga. Douglas’s natural walk interested the creative director and they have modeled for Balenciaga, opening or closing every show since. For Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2022 show Clones, a CGI production attended by a small crowd, all 44 looks were modeled by Douglas via deepfake or other models with Douglas Photogrammetry-captured and CG-scanned face digitally grafted on.

Douglas was previously in a relationship and was engaged to artist and collaborator Anne Imhof, and Douglas is often cited as Imhof's muse.

Solo & Duo • Year — Title — Institution — Location — Ref. • 2016 — I Am All Soul — Air de Paris — Paris • Music, Jo Anne — Stadelschule — Frankfurt • 2017 — Old Tissues Filled with Tears — Schinkel Pavillion — Berlin • My Gleaming Soul, 6 /12 Weeks — Museum Folkwang — Essen • My Gleaming Soul / I am a Fireball — Nassauischer Kunstverein — Wiesbaden • Eliza Douglas Anne Imhof — Galerie Buchholz — New York • Overduin & Co. — Los Angeles • 2018 — Eliza Douglas — The Jewish Museum — New York • Old Tissues Filled with Tears — Schinkel Pavillon — Berlin • 2019 — Josh Smith — Overduin & Co. — Los Angeles • 2020 — Lord of the Fucking Wasteland — Air de Paris — Paris • 2021 — Notre Mort — Neue Alte Brücke — Frankfurt • Overduin & Co. — Los Angeles • 2022 — Whitney Biennal — VI VII — Oslo • 2023 — Everything Dies — Museum Kunstpalast — Düsseldorf • PAROLE (Eliza Douglas and Lily van der Stokker — Air de Paris — Paris Selected group shows • Year — Title — Institution — Location — Ref. • 2016 — Summer show — Air de Paris, 11 Columbia — Monaco • Being There cur. — Matt Williams, Vilma Gold — London • 2017 — Transitions — Rod Bianco gallery — Oslo • Cul-de-sac — Antenna Space — Shanghai • Therianthropy — Laura Bartlett Gallery — London • Monday is a Day Between Sunday and Tuesday — Tanya Leighton Gallery — Berlin • 2018 — James Fuentes — New York • Hey woman! — Presenza — London • Nothing Will Be As Before — Tanya Leighton — Berlin • The Seam, the Fault, the Flaw — Greenspon — New York • The Vitalist Economy of Painting — Galerie Neu — Berlin • Nightfall — Mendes Wood DM — Bruxelles • 2019 — Mademoiselle — CRAC Sète — Sète • Sex — Tate Modern — London • The Art Institute Chicago — Chicago • Nightfall — Mendes Wood DM — Bruxelles • Eliza Douglas / Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo) — Galerie Francesca Pia — Zürich • More — Air de Paris — Romainville • 2020 — Sex — Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea — Turin • Milléniales. Peintures 2000-2020 — Méca - FRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine — Bordeaux • My C art ography. The Erling Kagge Collection — Santander Art gallery — Boadilla del Monte • Ups and Downs of a Flipped Planet — Galerie Huber Winter — Vienna • Ma cartographie: la collection Erling Kagge — Fondation Vincent Van Gogh — Arles • Studio Berlin — Berghain — Berlin • > — Air de Paris — Romainville • Green Go Home — Hua International Berlin Show Room — Berlin • 2021 — Natures Mortes, Anne Imhof — Palais de Tokyo — Paris • Lust for Life — Edward Ressle — Shanghai • 2022 — YOUTH, Anne Imhof — Stedelijk Museum — Amsterdam • Barbe à Papa — CAPC — Bordeaux • 2023 — Death and the Devil — Kunstpalast — Düsseldorf • Canned Heat — Contemporary Fine Arts — Berlin • 2024 — J’ai pleuré à la fin d’un manga — École Municipale des Beaux-Arts, Galerie Édouard Manet — Gennevilliers

• Year — Title — Venue — Location — Ref. • 2004 - 2006 — Devendra Banhart (Band) — Toured USA, Europe, Japan • 2006 — Antony and the Johnsons, “Turning” — European Tour • 2007 — Matteah Baim (Band) — MoMA PS1 — USA • European Tour • 2016 — Angst II — Hamburger Bahnhof — Berlin • Angst — Kunsthalle Basel — Basel • 2017 — Anne Imhof: Faust (Co-curator and performer) — German Pavilion, Venice Biennale — Venice • 2019 — Anne Imhof: Sex, BMW Tate Live (Performer) — Tate Modern — London • ANOHNI: SHE WHO SAW BEAUTIFUL THINGS (Performer) — The Kitchen — New York • 2020 — Vape Music | A Concert by Anne Imhof and Eliza Douglas — Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris — Paris