Cellophane wrap, Vaseline, plaster powder, lipstick, paint pigments, body lotion, transparent tape, glass . - Scottish artist Karla Black works with classical sculptural materials as well as substances of daily use and cosmetics, between which she makes no distinction in her expansive sculptures. They are site-specific sculptures in which the influence of light and the conditions of the space play a central role. Although the sculptures are staged directly on site, an important part of the work is already done in the studio. Therein lies one of the many contradictions of Black's artistic work: She realizes the work in situ and does not want to limit herself as much as possible in her response to the space, but she knows in advance what physical impression the work should convey. The materials and the way the artist shapes them into sculptures lend them a distinctly tactile quality. The surface entices us to touch it, while at the same time pre-stretched cellophane film or the institutional frame prevent us from touching it.
The center of the Schirn Rotunda is occupied by the room-filling, transparent sculpture Conditions (2019), which thus obstructs the passage of the publicly accessible space. Black has installed a Vaseline landscape there. Colored glass shards mar the soft surface of the mass, in which paint particles and traces of their fabrication are visible. The material is held in place by cellophane foil, which is lifted in a gentle curve like a kind of bag with transparent adhesive tape and is attached at the level of the Rotunda walkway on the first floor. With the title of her work, Black alludes to climatic as well as conservation conditions that directly affect the condition and material of an artwork.
The delicate and light effect of the sculpture is diametrically opposed to the material presence of the Vaseline. The materiality of sculpture is a central theme for the artist. Texture, "the feel" is crucial to the choice of materials, as is their creative potential. "I'm obsessed with the relationships between material, form, composition and colour, and once I've made a final aesthetic decision, I want it to stay that way forever," says Karla Black. In terms of the material used, this seems contradictory. A closer look at Conditions reveals traces of the creative process, the smearing of Vaseline or fingerprints on the film, because the work was created directly with the hands: Rubbing, smearing, mixing.
At the Schirn, such artistic markings are also evident in the first Rotunda Circulation, on whose glass panes Black has applied fingerprints, smears, smudges with lipstick, eye shadow, and other colorants. The artist combined these works with other works in which she used painted, colored gauze, glass and mirror surfaces, and gold. Karla Black sees her direct engagement with the material as a way of communicating and as a means of understanding the world around her.
Text source and further information about this event: https://www.schirn.de/fileadmin/SCHIRN/Presse/Texte_deutsch_2019/02_Schirn_Presse_KarlaBlack_Wandtext.pdf
