Karla Black
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Biography
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 her investigation of materiality, texture, and the emotions they evoke.
In 2027, Black will present solo exhibitions at Kunsthall Stavanger; Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh; and Quench Gallery, Margate. Her work has been exhibited at Kunstraum Dornbirn; Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop; Bechtler Stiftung, Uster; Tate Britain, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Lenbachhaus, Munich; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn; and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg. She represented Scotland at the 54th and 57th Venice Biennales and participated in Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg.
Black’s work is held in major public collections including Tate, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; and KiCo Collection, Munich, among others. In 2025, Black received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists. She was previously shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2011. -
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Karla Black
Curious To Know, 2024Oil and glass paint on mirror
240 x 190 cm
94.5 x 74.8 inches -
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Karla Black‘s work has been resolutely abstract, founded in an implicit faith in the liberatory potential of a direct perception of the materiality of things: their texture, hue, quantity, relations, and so on.
– Barry Schwabsky
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News
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Works
Karla Black
Rush To Correct, 2018Glass, wood, clay, paint, vaseline, lipstick, eyeshadow199.5 x 76 x 4.5 cmB-KBLACK-.18-0011Further images
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