Venice Diaries Part 12 – Karla Black

I realised the other day that I never quite finished the Venice Diaries report from my trip to the 54th Venice Biennale. As I still have a couple of film clips to share (one of them being the magnificent offering from Georgia that I loved) I thought its time I finished off.

Scottish Pavilion – Karla Black

Karla Black's installation for the Scottish Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale

Karla Black’s work is something between painting and sculpture. Swathes of suspended colour and material are constructed within the spaces she uses in a way that have more in common with the markings of a paintbrush. I think part of the appeal of her works lies in the contrast between their fragility and the monumentality they often possess.

The materials used by Black in this exhibition include vaseline and marble dust, sugar paper and eye-shadow, soil, powder paint and plaster, polythene, cellophane and soap. Her choices in materials are not to be taken as references or allegories – she insists she chooses purely on an aesthetic basis, experimenting and playing with in the way children handle their material world.

Seeing images of Black’s work before the Biennale I had been very excited about seeing them in the flesh but I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I actually found them more magical as images – they didn’t have the presence I expected when I shared a room with them. In part I think my visual response may have been hampered by the overwhelmingly sweet smell of LUSH soap materials used. Mixed with the incredible heat of that afternoon it was a dizzying and sickly combo that made the pavilion feel very claustrophobic. I love the idea of an artwork combining smell with texture and colour – touching more of the senses – but on this occasion the balance didn’t work for me. However, as well as having the honour of representing Scotland at the Venice Biennale, Black was also nominated for this years Turner Prize – so what do I know!

Here is a video walkthrough I took of the exhibition:

Karla Black’s exhibition took place at the Palazzo Pisani, Cannaregio. 4t June – 27th November.

For my other  Venice Diaries entries see:

Part 1- Personal Structures & Eternal Love

Part  2 – The Swiss Pavilion

Part 3 – Britain, Japan & France at the Giardini

Part 4- Greek & Austrian Pavilions,

Part 5 – Palazzo Fortuny

Part  6- A Moment On A Jetty

Part 7- Portugal Pavilion

Part  8- Luxembourg Pavilion

Part 9 – Travelling Alone and eating Ice Cream

Part 10 – The Arsenale

Part 11- Federico Diaz “Outside Itself”

driving home

driving home the other evening the roads felt quite beautiful through the fog and the fading light

Photos & feedback from our “London Calling” show at OCCCA Museum California

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

my wooden triptych - Someone To Watch Over Me

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

photo courtesy of Tahnee Lonsdale

A few of the visitor responses:

“London Calling” is a great compact survey of what’s going on in contemporary art in London at the moment”  ~ William Moreno  (President at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions/ Director at William Moreno Contemporary)

“Nice to see a new International flavor represented in Orange County”  ~ Tm Gratkowski (Curator and Director of  Flagstop)

 

“London Calling is a eclectic array of art fusion from traditional to contemporary. We will recommend this exhibition as a must see to friends and colleagues.” ~ Stacy Kumagai (Media Monster Communications)

 

“London Calling”   is a refreshing POV expressing contemporary British youth culture. The exhibition is filled with a compelling array of artwork embracing themes from pop to political,  retro to hipster and figurative to abstract.” ~ Sasha Darling  (BellJar Boutique)

 

Read a show review on Zeitgeist

Read a show review on AN Interface

 

The following artists exhibited in the show London Calling at OCCCA, Orange County
21 December 2011 – 12 January 2012

Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas, Carlos Martyn Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling, Lyndsay Martin, Masa Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang, Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale, Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald, Vikram Kushwah 

Advice To Myself

Continuing yesterday’s quote from Albert Pinkham Ryder – some more wonderful advice.

“The canvas I began ten years ago I shall perhaps complete today or tomorrow. It has been ripening under the sunlight of the years that come and go. It is not that a canvas should be worked at. It is a wise artist that knows when to cry “halt” in his composition, but it should be pondered over in his heart and worked out with prayer and fasting.

Art is long. The artist must buckle himself with infinite patience. His ears must be deaf to the clamour of his insistent friends who would quicken his pace. His eyes must see naught but the vision beyond. He must await the season of fruitage without hast, without worldly ambitions, without vexation of spirit. An inspiration is no more than a seed that must be planted and nourished. It gives growth as it grows to the artist, only as he watches and waits with the highest effort.”

These beautiful writings of  Ryder are from Paragraphs from the Studio of a Recluse - originally published by Broadway Magazine, XIV in 1905.

Albert Pinkham Ryder, Marine (1890)

be true to your vision

“It is the first vision that counts. An artist has only to remain true to his dream and it will possess his work in such a manner that it will resemble the work of no other man – for no two visions are alike, and those who reach the heights have toiled up the steep mountains by a different route. To each has been revealed a different panorama”

Albert Pinkham Ryder – 1905

Albert Pinkham Ryder, Moonlit Cove, c1911