The expansive sculptures of Karla Black are of an ambiguously fragile beauty. Delicate pastel shades and films, light, and reflections lend them an impression of weightlessness despite their large formats. The works vacillate between installation, painting, and performance and ultimately aspire to be independent sculptures. The Scottish artist works with everyday materials and cosmetics, with paint, gypsum powder, and transparent adhesive tape, with Vaseline, lipstick, and nail varnish. The texture, the “feel” of the substance, is decisive in her choice. Black installs her location-specific sculptures herself; rubbing, smearing, and mixing, she works with her hands. She understands this direct exploration of the material as a form of communication and as a means of understanding the world around her. For the SCHIRN the artist will develop a new three-dimensional sculpture for the publicly accessible Rotunda.
Karla Black (*1972 in Alexandria, Scotland) lives and works in Glasgow. In 2011 she represented Scotland at the 54th Biennale in Venice and was nominated for the Turner Prize during the same year. Her works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions.