September 21 – November 30, 2019 Opening: September 21 at 12:00 (noon)
CCA – Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Esther Kläs. Over the last ten years, Kläs has developed a distinctive visual language that harks back to the great sculptural traditions of the 20th century – including post-war abstraction and Minimalism – while simultaneously challenging contemporary sculptural norms. She uses malleable materials that can be worked by hand, including cement, clay, plaster, Styrofoam and resin. Kläs is a visionary yet process-oriented sculptor. Her works, which are reduced to as little as necessary to communicate, are close to yet removed from reality. The dynamics of objects in groups are explored, as is the movement of the body in space in connection to drawing and performance. Kläs often creates human-scale ensembles that seem governed by their own internal and external logic.
On the occasion of the solo exhibition at CCA Tel Aviv, her first solo show in Israel, the artist was invited to spend two months in Tel Aviv as Artport’s resident artist. During this time, Kläs has conceived a new body of work, which further exemplifies her focus on a directness of action through concentration by using the force and measurements of her own body. A series of large-scale oil stick drawings vary in shape and color, each taking on its own character. A multi-piece group of black clay works share the same starting point in their rendering, but lead to different ends. It’s not the big gestures in Kläs’s work that make us think and reformulate, but the persistence of what is in front of us. All the works will be shown in the ground floor gallery of the Center and have been conceived with that specific space in mind.
“Esther Kläs: Start” is curated by CCA Tel Aviv director Nicola Trezzi. A publication, including newly commissioned essays in English, Hebrew, and Arabic, as well as installation views documenting the works presented in the exhibition, will soon be published. The exhibition will be accompanied by a new performative work conceived by the artist in collaboration with dancer Hadar Katz. The exhibition and related publication were made possible with the support of Dr. Daniel Milman, and Artport Tel Aviv. Additional support has been provided by Bollag-Guggenheim AG, Peter Blum Gallery, New York, and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Hospitality kindly provided by OUTSET Israel.
About the Artist
Esther Kläs (*1981, Mainz, Germany; lives and works in Barcelona, Spain) is one of the most interesting sculptors of her generation. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Proyecto Amil, Lima (Peru); MoMA|PS1, New York; Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania (Italy); deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln MA (USA); Marino Marini Museum, Florence (Italy); Kunsthalle, Bielefeld (Germany) (with Johannes Wald); Peter Blum Gallery, New York; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (Belgium); SpazioA, Pistoia (Italy); and Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf (Germany). Her work was included in group exhibitions at institutions such as The Sculpture Center, New York; Public Art Fund, New York; Stiftung Skulpturenpark, Cologne (Germany); Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Salzburger Kunstverein (Austria); Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen (Germany); and Kolumba, Cologne (Germany). In 2020, she will have a solo exhibition at Fondazione Giuliani in Rome.
Image: Esther Kläs, Spring (1), 2019. Oil stick on paper, 109 × 109 cm.
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