Karla Black, February 17-April 14, 2018 © the artist, Courtesy Capitain Petzel, Berlin, photo:Jens Ziehe
Scottish sculptor Karla Black’s otherworldly installations and sculptures earned her a 2011 Turner Prize nomination and the Scottish Pavillion at the 54th Venice Biennale. Created from unconventional materials such as cosmetic powders, cellophane and petroleum jelly, her works are abstract and often reference the Land Art movement.
In her second exhibition at Capitain Petzel, the few coloured balls of fluff blowing about on the floor, barely-there smears of colour on some windows and walls and the two doors almost apologetically hinged onto walls in corners of the gallery initially feel a little disappointing and frail. Black’s monumental and immersive environments are usually more substantial than this.
However, the two tombstone-shaped works Unlike and Paths Properly Told redeem the show. Glass panels held upright by clay-covered floor supports suspend circles and smears in pastel green, pink and blue, made from paint, eyeshadow and other cosmetics. Giving a firm nod in both form and materials to Duchamp’s famous The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, they solidly emphasise the shyer hints and delicate dabs of the other works, drawing out a much-needed narrative tension that ties the exhibition together.
Through Apr 14