Karla Black
25 Oct 2019 - 19 Jan 2020
Karla Black, installation view at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2019, photo: Simon Vogel.
Karla Black, installation view at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2019, photo: Simon Vogel.
Karla Black, installation view at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2019, photo: Simon Vogel.
Karla Black, installation view at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2019, photo: Simon Vogel.
Karla Black, installation view at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2019, photo: Simon Vogel.
KARLA BLACK
25 October 2019 – 19 January 2020
Karla Black’s extensive sculptures possess an ambiguous, fragile beauty. Delicate pastel shades and plastic film, light and reflections lend them a weightless quality despite their often large formats. Her works move within the bounds of installation, painting, and performance and ultimately aspire to be self-contained sculptures. From October 25, 2019, to January 19, 2020, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting new works by the Scottish artist developed specifically for the Schirn Rotunda.
The large-format, transparent sculpture Conditions (2019) occupies the center of the circular building and thus the direct passage through the publicly accessible space. Shards of colored glass injure the soft surface of a Vaseline landscape, on which colored particles and traces of its fabrication are visible. The material is held by cellophane; sticky tape is used to raise the thin film to create a soft curve like a sort of bag, which is fixed at the height of the ambulatory on the first floor of the Rotunda. The specific circumstances of the venue and the light characterize the filigree and lightweight appearance of the sculpture and thus diametrically contradict the material presence of the Vaseline. With the title, Black alludes to climatic and conservational conditions that directly influence the state and material of a work of art.
The materiality of sculpture is a central theme for the artist. Black works with classic materials as well as with everyday substances and cosmetics—with paint, plaster powder, and transparent sticky tape; with Vaseline and lipstick. The texture, “the feel,” is decisive for her choices. The artist conceives her sculptures in the studio, installs them herself, and hence reacts to the sitespecific circumstances. She works with her hands, rubs, smudges, and mixes. On closer examination, one recognizes traces of the creative process in her works. These artistic markers become particularly apparent in the Rotunda’s first ambulatory, to whose panes of glass Black applies fingerprints, streaks, and blurs with lipstick, eye shadow, and other coloring agents. The artist combines these works with other works in which she uses colored gauze, glass and mirror surfaces, as well as gold. She regards the direct examination of her materials as an opportunity for communication and a means of understanding the world around her.
Karla Black (*1972 in Alexandria, Scotland) lives and works in Glasgow. She represented Scotland in 2011 at the 54th Venice Biennale and was nominated for the Turner Prize the same year. Her works have been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including at The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2016); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2015); and the Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2013). Black has also contributed works to international group exhibitions, including at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Modern Art Oxford and the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); the Manifesta 10, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (2014); Tate Britain, London (2012); and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2001).
The Schirn Rotunda has been used for the presentation of contemporary positions such as Maria Loboda, Neϊl Beloufa (2018), Philipp Fürhofer, Lena Henke (2017), Rosa Barba, Peter Halley (2016), Heather Phillipson, Alicja Kwade (2015), Andreas Schulze (2014), Yoko Ono (2013), Bettina Pousttchi (2012), Barbara Kruger (2010), Eva Grubinger (2007), Jan De Cock (2005), Ayşe Erkmen, and Olafur Eliasson (2004).
Curator: Katharina Dohm
25 October 2019 – 19 January 2020
Karla Black’s extensive sculptures possess an ambiguous, fragile beauty. Delicate pastel shades and plastic film, light and reflections lend them a weightless quality despite their often large formats. Her works move within the bounds of installation, painting, and performance and ultimately aspire to be self-contained sculptures. From October 25, 2019, to January 19, 2020, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting new works by the Scottish artist developed specifically for the Schirn Rotunda.
The large-format, transparent sculpture Conditions (2019) occupies the center of the circular building and thus the direct passage through the publicly accessible space. Shards of colored glass injure the soft surface of a Vaseline landscape, on which colored particles and traces of its fabrication are visible. The material is held by cellophane; sticky tape is used to raise the thin film to create a soft curve like a sort of bag, which is fixed at the height of the ambulatory on the first floor of the Rotunda. The specific circumstances of the venue and the light characterize the filigree and lightweight appearance of the sculpture and thus diametrically contradict the material presence of the Vaseline. With the title, Black alludes to climatic and conservational conditions that directly influence the state and material of a work of art.
The materiality of sculpture is a central theme for the artist. Black works with classic materials as well as with everyday substances and cosmetics—with paint, plaster powder, and transparent sticky tape; with Vaseline and lipstick. The texture, “the feel,” is decisive for her choices. The artist conceives her sculptures in the studio, installs them herself, and hence reacts to the sitespecific circumstances. She works with her hands, rubs, smudges, and mixes. On closer examination, one recognizes traces of the creative process in her works. These artistic markers become particularly apparent in the Rotunda’s first ambulatory, to whose panes of glass Black applies fingerprints, streaks, and blurs with lipstick, eye shadow, and other coloring agents. The artist combines these works with other works in which she uses colored gauze, glass and mirror surfaces, as well as gold. She regards the direct examination of her materials as an opportunity for communication and a means of understanding the world around her.
Karla Black (*1972 in Alexandria, Scotland) lives and works in Glasgow. She represented Scotland in 2011 at the 54th Venice Biennale and was nominated for the Turner Prize the same year. Her works have been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including at The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2016); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2015); and the Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2013). Black has also contributed works to international group exhibitions, including at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Modern Art Oxford and the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); the Manifesta 10, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (2014); Tate Britain, London (2012); and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2001).
The Schirn Rotunda has been used for the presentation of contemporary positions such as Maria Loboda, Neϊl Beloufa (2018), Philipp Fürhofer, Lena Henke (2017), Rosa Barba, Peter Halley (2016), Heather Phillipson, Alicja Kwade (2015), Andreas Schulze (2014), Yoko Ono (2013), Bettina Pousttchi (2012), Barbara Kruger (2010), Eva Grubinger (2007), Jan De Cock (2005), Ayşe Erkmen, and Olafur Eliasson (2004).
Curator: Katharina Dohm