Karla Black @ Modern Art

Walking into the gallery space, I took with me a wariness created by some reviews which were not impressed by the show. However, I was also conscious of how much I had read and heard Karla speak, and was certain a treat would be waiting for me.

The first impression was the enormous weightiness of presence these ephemeral creations demand. Light, airy and floating, yet massively present. It was such a fabulous surprise to see how the ethereal sculptures held their ground, dominating the space and calling your attention to their self contained existence.

How they existed in the space was impressive. In the light of thinking about the gallery space in our term 2 exhibitions, I have been reading around the ideas of the gallery, particularly on the ‘frailty’ of painting that it needs to be ‘protected’ behind glass, kept safe in a frame, hidden behind bars, cordoned off and guarded by gallery assistants. To arrive in a white room with all these thoughts, it was wonderful to be able to engage with the sculpture, not cordoned off, nor protected, but to be able to walk in, around and through the work freely. As I moved through, the work gently swayed as my presence registered with the air’s movements. I sat on the floor, and spent time with it, looking up into the space. It took a while before I felt able to walk in to the centre of this sculpture, but when I did, it gave a strange sensation of the sculpture allowing me to be embraced by it, encompassing and surrounding me. It allowed me to see inside it, a generous invitation.

It held the space, it held the floor, it rewarded me more and more the longer I spent with it. A few visitors looked and walked on, leaving well before the pieces had a chance to speak. The longer I sat, and walked around and within, the more deeply I was enchanted. The quiet strength of this ethereal work resided in the space.

After a while, the personification of the work seemed to possess me. In the first room, all the sculptures were installed in the window spaces, leaving the rest of the room vacant. My mind began creating stories of these sculptures clamouring for attention, to be looked at, wanting to be seen and known by passers by. They seemed to be rejecting the vast luxurious space behind them in favour of being known, of being seen. But perhaps I’m just loosing my marbles?!?

How important was the white room? It seemed these pieces had made such a comfortable home in this space, am I to admit a white cube is what some work needs? Nah! I imagined taking these works into Hackney Marshes, or the Barbican, or Silvertown, and they would surely have found their home there. The work has strength in its materiality, courage in its assertion and so many spaces (including a white cube) could be its place of rest.

After Phyllida Barlow’s lecture at the Tate, I wondered if there were any verbs ‘contained’ in this work. Unlike Phyllida’s chop, slice, squeeze, push verbs, the ones that came to mind were drape, float, tie (bind seemed to fit in my mind, but my sense would not allow it, feeling too strong). In an interview for the Telegraph, Karla says, “They don’t point outside of themselves through language to metaphor and symbolism. They don have meanings in that narrative or autobiographical way, everything about them is held within them. they are physical realities in themselves. So instead of asking what is the meaning of these sculptures, I would ask what are the consequences of these sculptures, they actually do something in the world themselves and the consequences of this sculpture is that it forces a very raw creative difficult chaotic moment into an institutional situation. ” (www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/turnerprize…)

The final work

http://vimeo.com/38362027

Reflecting on the day of collaborative work “Common Ground”

Reflections on day of filming for the exhibition as follows….

Yesterday, all 5 of us went ‘on location’ to film for the exhibition. We began in Silvertown in a disused, industrial space, went on to Hackney Marshes, then ended at the Barbican outside space. The whole day has left me buzzing, from creating spontaneous works in response to the surroundings, to collaborating in a joint venture with other artists who I respect and admire, and of course, the anticipation of the final film.

Here, mid process, post filming, pre editing, are a few reflections.

It was interesting to see how the five artists approached the task of the day. Sarah and I went with a selection of materials, to create a response to the space in the space with the pieces we had brought. Sarah said she literally wanted to ‘paint in the space’, with the objects and materials she had brought. My intention was to create a ‘material intervention’ in the space, responding to the space. Anwar and Bori took pieces of sculptural work with them, and installed them in response to the space. Bao Bao literally drank in the work and surroundings in the first two spaces, ready to record her work in the third setting. The most stunning thing of all (for me, it was literally shocking!) was the way the work worked together. The links were not forced, but natural and evolving. The relationship between the works spoke itself without needing to be manipulated. The comments and suggestions that flew across the spaces were in tune. It was a joy to collaborate, and there was no feeling of forced compromise.

The travel between sites was interesting as I had expected more collaborative talk. However, because the work was responsive, quite intuitive and fairly spontaneous, the chat between sites was reflective on what had been done (mostly enjoying each others work), and talk about method (we must be quicker at the next site/leave no permanent imprint/ avoid getting arrested etc).
On a personal note, I was surprised at what I achieved. I was pleased to find myself making different work in each site. I had some thoughts before I left, some possibilities which I thought I might rework in each sight. It delighted me to find that through working with others and prioritising responding to the space, each work came out differently, yet marvellously connected. I used some objects from the spaces (a discarded tin, a cement brick) to relate to the objects and materials I had brought. That was a spontaneous decision, but I found it really worked alongside the intentions I had.

Through the day, it became clear to me that the live action of materials, the wetness, sliminess, dripping, falling and human impression on the materials were was brought greatest joy in my work. The thick, gloupy paint spilling over the materials, and even the gentle movement of wind across the watery pool. These physical movements situated alongside the forms of the shards of solid paint, the eggs of various solid, dense materials. The forms themselves, the beautiful curve around the cement cast egg, the resistance of water on the wax egg, the organic invasion of my materials into their surroundings was simply thrilling.

Seminar group feed back on our exhibition

The response to the work was incredibly positive, which was brilliant having put so much work into it, but for once, I was not surprised as I had a strong conviction of the work’s strength.

Here are the comments made, in the order they were made, following the train of the conversation.

There is a strong sense of continuity through the work, exciting to see such apparent collaboration
Strong sense of itinerant, potential movement, need to move. Particularly interesting with relation to yesterday’s exhibition, Spare Room
At first there was a sense of trying to recognise whose work was whose, but quickly disappeared, as the film took over.
There were points indicating change, pace, surprises, kept guessing.
Is the film a work in its own right or documentation? Overwhelming view of the latter. What has been created is a completely new art work.
The experience of being there translates through the music work.
Focus was acute, taught and intense. Spaces that were vast were brought into tight focus, pinpoint, exclusive
Feels intimate, yet space. Like viewer is there with the pieces.
Is it controlling? Viewer sees what you want them to see.
If we had actually been there, we would have had a very different experience, we would have looked at end existed in the whole space, differently. Therefore more than documentation.
Reminded of French film “tell no one”
Shift around 2/3 through, became clear looking at someone’s art work, camera placing the art centre stage, was on the cusp of being jarring or being interesting. A protagonist, camera looking direct.y, it was undeniably someone’s work. Partly troubling, partly upped a gear. Altered response.
Responding differently in each space, a sense of going places, constantly shifting.
The tone was sad, poignant, oil based materials, reference to what has been before (industrial history of silvertown). Yet not in a morbid way.
Interesting to note how the weather would affect the work.
Delicate intervention, not too much.
Whitechapel artist (Serena??) considering in relation to that work. Overly aesthetic? Slightly undermined by the beauty, but our work seems less concerned with that, perhaps more ‘truthful’. Possibility of freedom from aesthetic concerns as intention was to document an event, not deliberately create a film.
A sense of documentation of something we’ve missed, that the filming is an event that has been missed by the viewer. Already existed without me.
A peep into your world. A slice of magic.
Discussions around the role of the voyeur/ viewer. Hostile? Controlled? Left behind?
Sense of reminiscing, melancholic, but not completely. Another quality preventing it being melancholic.
Real sense of collaboration.
Distortion, jarring, not feeling too comfortable.
Common Ground- collaborative work, shared responsibility, finding it, a sense of displacement, looking back, of movement.
Seeing the spaces through the eyes of the objects.
Small, close, invite to look closely.
Feeling of immigration, being from another place, trees, texture, floor, sky.
The yellow fabric on the floor, holding on for dear life, of something that is a part of itself.