Karla Black

Karla Black is a Scottish sculptor who creates abstract 3D art pieces that explore the physicality of materials as a way of understanding and communicating the world around us.

Karla Black
Born1972
Alexandria, Dunbartonshire
OccupationScottish sculptor

She was born 1972 in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire and studied Sculpture at The Glasgow School of Art from 1995 to 1999. From there, Black gained an MPhil in Art in Organisational Contexts from the year 1999–2000 as well as a MFA in 2002 through 2004.

In 2011, Black was nominated for both the Turner Prize and was a representative in Scotland at the Venice Biennale. Black's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at a number of international venues such as Modern Art Oxford and Kunsthalle Nurnbeg, Germany.

Black uses mostly traditional art-making materials such as plaster, paint, paper and chalk in her work, along with a small amount of substances such as cosmetics and toiletries. Her sculptures are either 'almost' or 'only just' objects and skirt amongst the mediums of painting, performance art and installation, often contrasting large scale with a fragility of form. Karla utilizes and plays with the physical properties of a wide arrange of materials. These materials could range from house hold items such as hand soap and toothpaste, but also traditional supplies like plaster and cellophane. Black uses these materials in an aesthetically pleasing, yet raw and unformed way. Her pieces show plasters and lotions smeared on the exhibit floor along with chalk crushed in small piles placed on fabric. Although Black identifies as a sculptor, her use of everyday matter mixed with traditional art materials works to expand the parameters of sculpture.[3] According to Black, her works exists and operates as "almost painting, almost installation, almost performance art."[4] Artists who have influenced her work include Helen Frankenthaler, Karen Kilimnick, Lynda Benglis, Robert Smithson and Richard Tuttle.[5][6]

In one of her pieces titles "Made to Wait" (2009), a cellophane sheet is seen floating as an invisible screen with a band of paint and other cosmetic products are smeared over it, covering its lower half. According to the Guggenheim, this piece is "elusive and stable" while "the work is grounded in its materiality as a physical experience and resists any metaphorical or symbolic meaning."

Black is represented by Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London and Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Italy.

Exhibitions

Karla Black's artwork has been in solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover, Germany; the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia; the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow.[8] Black represented Scotland at the 54th Venice Biennale[9] in 2011.[10]

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2020

  • Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (forthcoming)
  • "Karla Black: 20 Years", Des Moines Art Centre, Des Moines, IA, USA

2019

  • Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
  • Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany

2018

  • The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
  • Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany

2017

  • Modern Art, London
  • Le Festival d’Automne à Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts / Musée des Archives Nationales, Paris, France
  • Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium

2016

2015

  • Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland

2014

2013

  • Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
  • Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA Gemeente Museum, The Hague, Netherlands
  • Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany

2012

  • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
  • Modern Art, London
  • Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany

2011

  • "Karla Black", Scotland and Venice, 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2010

  • Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany
  • Wittman Collection, Ingolstadt, Germany
  • "Ten Sculptures", Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany

2009

  • "Karla Black: Sculptures with paintings by Bet Low" (1924-2007), Inverleith House, Edinburgh
  • Modern Art Oxford, Oxford
  • Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
  • Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Mary Mary, Glasgow

2008

  • "Champagne Perrier-Jouët Prize (Winner 2007)", Zoo Art Fair, London
  • "Catch This: New Works from the Arts Council Collection", Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
  • West London Projects, London
  • Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany

2007

  • IBID Projects, London

2006

  • Galerie Sandra Buergel, Berlin, Germany
  • Mary Mary, Glasgow
  • Outpost, Norwich
  • "Have Him Be Her", Broadway 1602, New York, NY, USA

2004

  • Mary Mary, Glasgow

2002

  • Robert, Glasgow Project Room, Glasgow

Selected Collections
  • Arts Council Collection, London
  • Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
  • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
  • David Roberts Art Foundation, London
  • EVN Collection, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria
  • Gemeente Museum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
  • Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, France
  • Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
  • RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA Saatchi Gallery, London
  • Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA
  • Southbank Centre, London
  • Tate, London

Publications
  • Karla Black (2010), Karla Black: It's Proof That Counts, JRP/Ringier, ISBN 978-3-03764-084-5
  • Karla Black: ten sculptures, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, 2010

References
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