Karla Black

The expan­sive sculp­tures by Karla Black are char­ac­ter­ized by an ambiguous, fragile beauty. Deli­cate pastel shades and films, light and reflec­tions lend them a sense of weight­less­ness. Her large-format works straddle the genres of instal­la­tion, painting and perfor­mance and are intended as stand­alone sculp­tures. Black works with classic sculp­tural mate­rials as well as substances in everyday use and cosmetics – with Vase­line, plaster powder, trans­parent adhe­sive tape or lipstick. The texture, “the feel of it”, is crucial in her selec­tion. For the Schirn Rotunda, the Scot­tish artist devel­oped a new site-specific piece. The publi­ca­tion captures the deli­cate parts of the instal­la­tion to striking effect and guides the observer through the artist’s haptic body of work. An exclu­sive inter­view with Karla Black offers an illu­mi­nating insight into her way of working and the themes and issues that are central to her work.