Karla Black

APPEARS ALONGSIDE

2015
polythene, powder paint, plaster powder, and thread
31 1/8 x 31 1/8 x 21 1/4 inches

I have a gamut of materials that are mine that I’ve always been working with. I like really sort of raw materials. I really like things like gels and oils and pastes and powders, but also really papery things. – Karla Black

Black’s use of raw materials and non-traditional processes results in oddly beautiful works that challenge our assumptions about sculpture and perception. Here, she knots and drapes clear plastic into a bulbous form. Pink paint powder and white plaster powder coat the inside skin of the soft shapes, creating a tenuous interaction where the plastic is both container and painterly surface. Black represented Scotland at the 54th Venice Biennale, and in 2012-13 her work was the subject of a Concentrations show at the Dallas Museum of Art.