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Yashua Klos

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Yashua Klos (born 1977) is a multimedia artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Working closely with printmaking and collage techniques, Klos bases his practice around ideas of identity, memory, and community.[1]

Early life and education

Klos was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he grew up on Chicago's South Side and was raised by his single mother.[1] In 2000, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Northern Illinois University.[2] Klos then studied abroad in France, where he investigated Renaissance painting techniques at L'Atelier Neo Medici in 2002. By 2009, he earned a Masters of Fine Arts at Hunter College.[3]

Art

Klos is largely influenced by his childhood environment in Chicago, and bases his works around identity in contemporary African-American society. Inspired by his own memories of the past, Klos discusses ideas of marginalization, masculinity, and urban mythology through large scale pieces. He paints portraits of blackness extracted directly from the neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, highlighting notions of suppression, denial, and pain associated with the vulnerability experienced in black communities. There was a "stoicism" among the "black folks" Klos witnessed, an element he attempts to unpack by studying the behavioral nature of adapting and thriving. Overall, he challenges conventions often attached to the African-American man.

Printmaking

In his earlier works, Klos was known for printing giant woodcuts on large stretches of muslin.[4] His interest in the technique grew out of the many African-American activists who employed it during the mid 20th century, such as Charles White, Elizabeth, Catlett, and Emily Douglas. By cutting and etching using a series of erratic, jagged marks, he imitates this "kinetic devotion to image-making" that grounds this element of humanity he desires to achieve.[5]

Collage

Klos' collages derive from his practice as a printmaker. Using a personalized approach, he creates swatches and samples of textures by hand-carving and inking woodblock prints to create a library of source material. By piecing and arranging a selection of patterns, they are layered on top of a pencil blueprint to create a complete portrait.[6] His ideas of memory and distortion are demonstrated by the manifestation of fractured impressions and angled perspectives.[7] Klos views collage as more than just a technique, but more a "metaphor for the fragmentation of African-American identity".[1]

Sculpture

Klos references earthly materials, physical mediums he views as strong yet vulnerable over the passage of time. He associates timelessness to ancient monuments, an concept he applies to his sculptures to communicate the j"monumentality of a culture's identity and relationship to time". Often, he incorporates materials leftover from urban renewal, such as milk crates, bricks, and wooden beams. The use of these mediums suggest Klos' desire to construct an identity relevant to his background.[5]

Selected exhibitions

2016 September: Galerie Anne DeVillepoix, "Blank Black", Paris FR[8]

2015 September: Jack Tilton Gallery, “As Below, So Above”, New York NY[9]

2014 February: Carnegie Mellon University, Draw 2014 Symposium, Pittsburgh PA [10]

2014 November: Opa Locka ARC, In Plain Sight, Opa-Locka FL[11]

2012 October: Memphis College of Art, “Singular Masses”, Memphis TN[12]

2012 Weatherspoon Museum, “Art on Paper”, Greensboro NC[13]

2012 November: Studio Museum in Harlem, “Fore”, New York NY[14]

2012 Dodge Gallery, “Bigger Than Shadows”, New York NY2013 February: Jack Tilton Gallery, “We Come Undone”, New York NY[15]

2011 June: Kravetz Wehby, “Paperwork”, New York NY[16]

2010 July: Scaramouche Gallery, “Lush Life”, New York NY[17]

2010 September: Tilton Gallery, “ELSE”, New York NY[18]

2010 October: Catskill Art Society, “Utopia and Wallpaper”, Livingston Manor NY[10]

2009 January: Museum of Science and Industry, “Black Creativity 09”, Chicago IL[10]

2009 June: Hunterdon Museum of Art, “Up and Coming”, Clinton NJ

2008 February: Rush Arts Gallery, “Garveyism”, New York NY[10]

2008 August: Port Authority Bus Terminal, “The Mt. Rushmore Drawings”, New York NY[10]

2006 February: The Abrons Art Center, “Inner Visions”, New York NY[10]

2006 September: Deitch Projects, “Deitch Art Parade”, New York NY[10]

Klos is represented by Tilton Gallery (New York) and Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris).[19]

Awards and Residencies

NYFA Grant, 2015

Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2014

The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 2005

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

The Vermont Studio Center

Teaching

Yashua Klos teaches regularly at Hunter College and Parson's [19]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Yashua Klos". Artspace. Phaidon Global. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Yashua Klos Biography" (PDF). Tilton Gallery. Jack Tilton Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Yashua Klos". ArtSlant. ArtSlant Inc. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  4. ^ Genocchio, Benjamin. "By Invitation Only". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b "As Above, So Below". Newfound. Newfound. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Yashua Klos". Art on the Vine. Art on the Vine Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  7. ^ Brock, Polly. "Stoicism and Survival: Interview with Yashua Klos". Art/ctualité. Art/ctualité. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Yashua Klos: Blank Black". Anne de Villepoix. Galerie Anne de Villepoix. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Yashua Klos: As Below, So Above". Tilton Gallery. Jack Tilton Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g "Yashua Klos Resume". Yashua Klos. Yashua Klos. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  11. ^ Nahmad, Valerie. "The Art of Transformation Series Celebrates the Revitalization of Opa-Locka". Knight Foundation. John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  12. ^ "Memphis College of Art Debuts Exhibition Exploring Racial Identity". Memphis College of Art. Tennessee Arts Foundation. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Art on Paper 2012: The 42nd Exhibition". Weatherspoon Art Museum. The University of North Carolina Greensboro. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Fore". Studio Museum. Studio Museum Harlem. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Yashua Klos: We Come Undone" (PDF). Tilton Gallery. Jack Tilton Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Kravets/Wehby Gallery Presents: "Paperwork"". Brooklyn Street Art. Brooklyn Street Art. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Lush Life". Scaramouche Gallery. Scaramouche NY. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  18. ^ Cotter, Holland. "Else". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  19. ^ a b "A Conversation With Yashua Klos on Violence, Police, and Art". Blouin Artinfo. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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