Born 1972 in Alexandria, UK

Lives and works in Glasgow, UK

Karla Black‘s abstract and immersive sculptures are created through her experimentation with unconventional materials. These monumental yet ephemeral and seemingly weightless chalked paper works continue Black’s investigation of materiality and texture, and the emotions they transmit.

Her interplay of delicate abstract forms, pastel colors and surprising materials demands a physical experience and encourages a new way of not only seeing but also perceiving. Material experiences is Black’s preferred way to understand the world and communicate within it. For her, materiality is closely tied to psychological states of being.  

Karla Black‘s numerous solo exhibitions include Kunstraum Dornbirn (2025); Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop (2025); Bechtler Stiftung, Uster (2024); New Art Gallery Walsall (2023); Modern Art Gallery, London (2022); Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2021); Des Moines Art Centre (2020); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2019); Le Festival d’Automne, Paris (2017); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (2017); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2016); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2013); Dallas Museum of Art (2012); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2012) among others. Her group shows include Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2020); Lenbachhaus, Munich (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2014); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2012); Carré d’Art-Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes (2011); Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2010); Tate Britain, London (2009) and many more. Black represented Scotland at the 54th Venice Biennale (2010) and the 57th Venice Biennale (2017) and her work was shown at Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg (2014).

Karla Black received a 2025 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists and was previously shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2011. Her work is held in major public collections, including the Tate in London, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, the KiCo Collection in Munich, among others.