Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin

Karla Black

01.05.2015 - 26.07.2015
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view

The site-specific exhibition at IMMA will present Karla Black’s extraordinary creative output, revealing the artist’s constant challenges to prevailing concepts of sculpture. Her interest in process has led her to expand the possibilities of whichever material she employs; from plaster, polythene, chalk dust and powder to eye-shadow, nail varnish, fake tan or toothpaste. Black chooses her media for their tactile aesthetic appeal: the familiarity of the texture of cellophane or the scent of cosmetics bridges the experience of tangible matter with the intimacy of memory of the subconscious. Black’s working process is intensely physical and this energy is conveyed through works that emphasise her free, experimental working method, combined with the editing, muting and reigning in of careful aesthetic judgement. Each element in her assemblages interconnects physical, psychological, and theoretical stimuli which are both self-referential and relate to art as a wider-world experience.

Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell
Photo: Denis Mortell
Installation view
Photo: Denis Mortell