Karla Black - Scotland + Venice 2011

Scotland + Venice is delighted to announce full details of Karla Black's solo presentation at the 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, the world's largest and most prestigious showcase for contemporary visual arts. The exhibition is curated by The Fruitmarket Gallery and is presented, as in 2009, at Palazzo Pisani (S. Marina).

2011 Turner Prize nominee Karla Black presents an exhibition of new abstract sculptures that hover between energy and mass—pulverised, atomised, piled, layered, supported, suspended and spilling out onto the floor; a mass of colour and material that fills the 15th century Venetian Palazzo Pisani. These 'almost objects' have been intimately and painstakingly worked in situ by the artist into exquisitely detailed aesthetic forms. While not exactly site-specific, these works have been made with their physical and conceptual context in mind.

In this exhibition Black presents forms and compositions in Vaseline and marble dust, sugar paper and eye-shadow, soil, powder paint and plaster, polythene, cellophane and soap, in crumbling, peeling washes or dustings of high key mid-colours like peach, baby blue and pastel pink. Black describes these works as being "caught between thoughtless gestures and seriously obsessive attempts at beauty".

The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication, designed by Karla Black as part of her presentation in Venice. With images of the exhibition in the Palazzo Pisani, as well as other images of recent exhibitions, and a new essay by Briony Fer, the publication offers an experience of Karla Black's work that is both parallel to the exhibition and illuminating of it.

This is the fifth presentation from Scotland + Venice, a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland. It builds on the critical success of previous projects which have featured artists including Turner Prize winner Simon Starling and Turner Prize nominees Cathy Wilkes, Jim Lambie and Lucy Skaer, and last year presented the first solo exhibition for Scotland at the Venice Biennale with the work of Martin Boyce.

"The Fruitmarket Gallery is proud to present this exhibition of the work of Karla Black. There is a fearlessness to her way of working with materials to make complex, thoughtful and often intensely beautiful objects that cuts to the core of what art can be." Fiona Bradley, Director, The Fruitmarket Gallery

Karla Black (b. 1972) lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. Her work has been shown in major museum and commercial gallery exhibitions in the UK and abroad and she is shortlisted for the 2011 Turner Prize. She is represented by Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne and her work is held in museum collections including Tate, London; migros museum für gegenwartskunst, Zürich; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and Arts Council Collection, England.

Black's recent solo exhibitions include: Karla Black, Capitain Petzel, Berlin; Ten Sculptures, Kunsthalle Nürnberg (both 2010); Karla Black: Sculptures with paintings by Bet Low, Inverleith House, Edinburgh; Modern Art Oxford; migros museum, Zürich; Kunstverein Hamburg (all 2009).

Current group exhibitions include: British Art Show 7, various venues, Glasgow (Until 21 August 2011); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (until 21 August 2011); Structure & Material, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Until 26 June 2011); and Essential Art, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (until 25 September 2011).

Her forthcoming exhibitions include Turner Prize 2011 at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (21 October 2011–8 January 2012); and Georgia O'Keeffe/Karla Black at Kunsthalle Vienna (2013).

For all media enquiries, interview requests and images please contact: David Field Calum Sutton PR E david@suttonpr.com T +44(0)207 1833577 Jenny McVean Calum Sutton PR E jenny@suttonpr.com T +44 (0)207 1833577

Palazzo Pisani
 Calle de le Erbe 
Cannaregio (off Campo Santa Marina) 6103

Artist: Karla Black Commissioner: Scotland + Venice Curator: The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinbur

www.scotlandandvenice.com

54th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia
Collateral Event:

Karla Black
Scotland + Venice 2011
Ort: Palazzo Pisani, Calle de le Erbe, Cannaregio (off Campo Santa Marina) 6103