Karla Black

Works

Everyone Looks Solid From The Outside2010

Cellophane, sellotape, ribbon, paint

variable dimensions, ca. 2-3 m

Persuade2020

Velvet pillow case, oil paint, glass and wood frame

53 × 58,5 × 4 cm

Which Tense2016

Cotton wool, sugar paper, paint, ribbon

49 × 67 × 7 cm

In Tact2016

Cotton wool, cellophane, Sellotape, paint, thread

73 × 43 × 25 cm

Which Tense2016 (detail)

Cotton wool, sugar paper, paint, ribbon

49 × 67 × 7 cm

In Tact2016 (detail)

Cotton wool, cellophane, Sellotape, paint, thread

73 × 43 × 25 cm

Type As Form2016

Cotton wool, sugar paper, paint, ribbon

46 × 63 × 4 cm

Form as Type2016

Cotton wool, sugar paper, paint, ribbon

46 × 69 × 5 cm

Admitting Amounts2016

Cotton wool, paint, cellophane, sellotape

variable dimension: ø 326 cm

Admitting Amounts2016 (detail)

Cotton wool, paint, cellophane, sellotape

variable dimension: ø 326 cm

In Case of the Same2016

Balsa wood, eyeshadow, cotton wool

93 × 15 × 15 cm

Share Distance2016

Balsa wood, eyeshadow, cotton wool

142 × 13 × 13 cm

In Response2015

Aluminium tooling foil, nail varnish, petroleum jelly

85 × 18 × 21 cm

Promote Alongside2014

Sugar paper, chalk, eyeshadow primer, concealer, face paints, thread

36 × 53 cm

Remind Here2014

Sugar paper, chalk, eyeshadow primer, concealer, thread

41 × 56 cm

Biography

Karla Black was born in Alexandria, Scotland, in 1972. She lives and works in Glasgow.
She works with Galleria Raffaella Cortese since 2014.

Black creates abstract sculptures using a combination of everyday materials including dust, soap, gels and filler, along with more traditional media such as plaster, paint and paper. Carefully arranged on the floor or suspended from the ceiling, they are typically created on site with and bear the traces of their manipulation. Delicate, messy, sensuous and visceral, they witness a physical experience of the world that lies beyond metaphorical and symbolic references. Poised between form and anti-form, they emerge like transitional states or naturally occurring sediments.

In particular, Black regards language as a secondary framework to the deeply material, affective experience that her sculptures evoke, with a fascination for the psychological implications of mess and chaos. Her simultaneously delicate and monumental works are encountered as both sculpture and site, an approach that enables her audience to engage with the materials differently and encourages new ways of looking at the spaces they activate.

A number of solo exhibitions have been devoted to Black, including: Karla Black, Bechtler Stiftung, Uster, Switzerland (2024); Karla Black, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall (2023); Karla Black: Sculptures 2000 – 2020, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2021); Karla Black, Des Moines Art Centre, Des Moines (2020); Karla Black,  Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2019); The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); Beaux-Arts de Paris and Musée des Archives Nationales, Paris, as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris (2017); National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2016); IMMA, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2015); Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2013); Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2013); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2013); Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2012); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2012); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2012); 54th Venice Art Biennale, Venice (2011); Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg (2010); Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2009); Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg (2009); Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2009).

She has also taken part in several group exhibitions, among which: Nulla è Perduto. Arte e Materia in Trasformazione, GAMeC, Bergamo (2022); In a Waiting Room, Fiorucci Art Trust, London (2019); Installationen aus 25 Jahren Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2019); Der flexible Plan. Das Rokoko in der Gegenwartskunst, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (2018); Cher(e)s Ami(e)s, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (2016); Nur was nich ist ist möglich: Malerei im Raum, Museum Folkwang, Essen (2013); The space between, Tate Britain, London (2012); Before the Law, Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); Art Now: Strange Solution, Tate Britain, London (2008).

In 2017 Karla Black took part in Viva Arte Viva, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice. In 2014 she participated to Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg. In 2011, the artist  was nominated for the Turner Prize  and represented Scotland at the 54th Venice Biennale.

Read more

Gallery Exhibitions

Public exhibitions

Karla Black
21 April – 10 October 2024
Bechtler Stiftung, Uster
Karla Black
12 May – 29 October 2023
The New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK
New Arrivals
1 September 2022 – 12 February 2023
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
Sculptures (2001-2021)
7 July – 24 October 2021
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Karla Black: 20 Years
8 February – 17 May 2020
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Karla Black
25 October 2019 – 19 January 2020
Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
Karla Black
20 October – 30 December 2018
The Power Plant, Toronto
Festival d'Automne à Paris
20 October 2017 – 7 January 2018
Ecole de Beaux-Arts, Paris
Viva Arte Viva
13 May – 26 November 2017
57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Karla Black
2 June – 27 November 2011
Scotland + Venice, 54th Venice Art Biennale, Palazzo Pisani, Venice

Press

(Get) READY/UNREADY (With Me)
Spike Art
Issue 78 | Winter 2023/24
Karla Black
Artforum
January 2020
Karla Black at The Power Plant, Toronto
Mousse
December 7, 2018
Karla Black
Artforum
January 30, 2017
Karla Black: Her bright materials
Independent
April 17, 2012
Karla Black
Artforum
October 13, 2009
Karla Black
Frieze
September 9, 2008

Publications

Karla Black sculptures (2001 -2021) details for a retrospective
Black, Karla; Bradley, Fiona; Feris, Alison (texts by)
The Fruitmarket Gallery
Edinburgh, London
2021
Karla Black
Dohm, Katharina (ed.); Black, Karla; Demandt, Philipp (texts by)
Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst
Germany
2020
Karla Black + Kishio Suga: A New Order
Delaney, Julie-Ann
National Galleries of Scotland
Edinburgh
2017
Karla Black: Practically in Shadow
Kraczon, Kate
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
2015
Karla Black
Görner, Veit ; Figner, Susanne; Schwabsky, Barry
Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther Konig
Köln
2014
Karla Black – Venice 2011
Black, Karla
The Fruitmarket Gallery
Edinburgh
2011
It's Proof That Counts
Black, Karla; Munder, Heike (interview by)
JRP|Ringier
Zürich
2010
Karla Black: Ten Sculptures
Black, Karla
Kunsthalle Nürnberg
Nürnberg, Germany
2010

Videos

Karla Black - Feature Sequence 1.5.4
2023
Karla Black – sculptures (2001–2021). details for a retrospective
2021
Interview with Karla Black
2020